Once Again
by tafih.triple.threat
Summary: Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime, is given a second chance at life by the Shinigami. Unfortunately the god of Death had a sudden sense of humor and reincarnated the Hokage into a teenage girl's body.
1. Rebirth

Once again, he was given a chance of life.

A chance to redeem himself and redo his past mistakes.

A chance to make wrong right.

But he was in the wrong body.

Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage was given another chance at life by the Shinigami.

Unfortunately, the Shinigami had a sudden sense of humor and reincarnated the Hokage into a teenage girl's body.

* * *

Yah, this is my first fanfiction. Hope you enjoy it. 

And I don't own Naruto or anything else affliated with it.

* * *

A deep abyss was all that existed, a dark corridor with no end. 

The only thing that was in sight was his enemy who he sealed. The Nine-tailed Demon fox.

Minato huffed breathlessly as he faced the shapeless form of pure and evil chakra. But he knew he couldn't give up. A Hokage would never relent to enemies. The Yondaime stood, pain echoing through his entire body.

His mind was still full of determination and willing to push harder, his body wouldn't let him continue. He collapsed.

"Ku.ku. It seems as though you have given up Minato," the Shinigami's voice cackled.

Minato breathed deeply, constricting his emotions to his breath. The Shinigami chuckled. Lately the god of Death had been talking, laughing, jeering, being as irksome as could be. Minato inhaled.

"You and I made a deal, Shinigami, which I would give you my life and you would do my bid…" he murmured between his deep sighs.

"Sure," the god cut him off. "You have something in mind?"

"Can you let me live again?"

The Shinigami bellowed in laughter, its voice reverberated menacingly in the Namikaze's ears. The sound was worse than the pain.

"Again? Oh, perhaps, it may be interesting," it snorted as its figure slowly began to appear. The Hokage kept a straight face as the god circled above him.

"But what's in it for me?"

"The remaining soul of the Kyuubi," Minato replied.

"Oh? You're willing to risk your son's life once again? For your own sake? My, my, you are certainly a strange man,"

"No, I will make things right and let my son be free of the curse that I placed on him," Minato said sternly, firmly stating his ambition.

"Such a good and noble father, but I'm not that interested in the Kyuubi's remains, the Yang portion is more than enough. But if you keep me entertained for the years you are to live, then fine by me,"

Before Minato could question, the Shinigami disappeared and Minato fell into a dark sleep.

* * *

"Where am I?" Minato thought as his consciousness slowly began to waken. The faint sound of trees rustling and the bright chirps of birds startled him. Minato stretched his eyes open, and saw the comforting sound of world. He brought trembling hands to his face, and sighed with comfort. 

But when he bent his head down, it wasn't locks of blonde straight hair that fell before his face. Instead it was waves of black. Minato tilted his head down further to see, not his chest but a women's breast. Shocked the former Hokage parted his legs and chocked from the shock. No 'thing' was in sight. Minato ran to a nearby stream and stared at his reflection.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he/she yelled at the top of his/her lungs. Minato began to clutch every body part to make certain that it was real. It was, regrettably.

"I-I'm a-a-a girl,"

"Yes and a nude one,"

Minato turned quickly to see a teenage boy, with raised eyebrows and a perverted smile.

"What the..!" Minato jerked back in shock, right into the river. Underwater, Minato began to calculate which ways he should escape. There weren't many for a girl who is butt naked, but he tried anyway. When he couldn't hold his breath anymore, Minato popped his head above the surface of water, finding a bundle of cloth thrown at him (her?)

"Put it on," the teenager ordered with his back to Minato. "I'm not looking,"

Minato cautiously put the clothes on, still in the water and made sure that the boy wasn't looking.

"What on earth was that Shinigami thinking?" Minato thought as he changed. "Is this its idea of being entertained?"

"You done?" the teen asked. Minato didn't respond, but carefully sneaked out of the water, holding the water in place with chakra.

"At least I still have some abilities," the Namikaze thought to himself, and then he (she?) shot off. Ducking into the woods, Minato found it hard to maneuver with his new body.

"Did I lose him?" she asked aloud as she hid behind the base of a tree.

"No,"

Minato turned and saw the young man, "Shit." Quickly scheming, Minato pushed against the side of the tree, forcing her legs into the boy's chest, making him fall over. In one swift movement, Minato swerved back into a stance and jumped high into the air and landed gracefully on a high branch. Minato felt a surge of chakra come towards him and quickly dodged. He needed to end it quickly.

"Rasengan!" Minato shouted, bringing raw chakra to his open palm, but then his arm jerked with pain. "Shoot," he cursed. It became suddenly clear, his new body wasn't used to the sudden force that was needed for any of his techniques.

"This is bad," Minato hissed, but kept his face calm. "I just need to use the basics,"

The teenager appeared again. He had a kunai in each hand, points positioned for a strike. "This is how you treat your…"

"…my what?" Minato asked, grabbing the boy's hand with his good arm and flung him down to the ground. Jumping down after him, Minato prepared herself for a large and powerful punch. But something blocked her way, a loud 'Umph' fell from her lips as she collapsed onto the forest ground. Minato looked up to see someone who he wished he would never have to see in that lifetime.

"Kabuto, what did you get yourself into this time?" Orochimaru hissed.

* * *

Yes, very short I realize, but I just wanted to know what other's thought about it. 

Seeya,

Triple Threat


	2. Conflict

Thank you for your reviews, they are greatly appreciated. br / From this point forward, it may become confusing with the gender change and all. But I'm going to try to use feminine pronouns a bit more with Minato.

I don't own Naruto or anything affiliated with it but I do have possession of the plot.

* * *

"Oh nothing, just got into a little mix-up with a homicidal girl, that's all," Kabuto laughed evilly, brushing off some twigs off his shoulder.The former Hokage crossly glared at the tall teenager. She deciphered that he was about 18 years of age and surprisingly had a headband with the Konoha emblem. A sudden tug of her hair disrupted Minato's thoughts. Her head was forced up to face the malevolent glare that Orochimaru threw at the girl.  
"She has that look," he hissed happily. Minato began to scream inside, but kept a cool and collected demeanor as she stared back with equal intensity.  
"And great potential," Kabuto added, smirking triumphantly. The two males exchanged pleased looks and Orochimaru turned to the young woman.  
"What's your name, girl?"  
Minato didn't reply.  
"Well, what is it?" Orochimaru seethed. Minato turned to the ground and sighed.  
"Minamo," she replied softly. Orochimaru grinned widely.

* * *

Minamo walked through a dark underground corridor, the sound of her footsteps echoed throughout the empty hallway. Kabuto opened one of the cell doors and motioned her in. The room was simple, only bearing the necessities of a bed, a desk and a mirror. Minamo heaved a sigh and ventured into the dreary and dead cell. Kabuto then shifted the bulky metal door, leaving a mere crack between it and the doorframe.  
"Sorry, but I need to lock you in," he smiled, "You know, just in case,"  
"Whatever," Minamo replied, sitting down on the bed. Kabuto frowned in accusation and doubt but quickly shook it off as he secured the door.  
"She's no normal girl," Orochimaru stated as Kabuto locked the door.  
"No," Kabuto replied, eyeing the door slowly, "She's just a bit different. Strange, yes, but different,"  
Orochimaru snorted, "You haven't had anyone else your age here, have you?"  
Kabuto shook his head and started to walk away. "We should get ready Orochimaru-sama, we have Chuunin Exams to prepare for," the teen said, obviously avoiding a certain subject.  
"Minamo," Orochimaru grinned to himself, "I see much potential in you. You might even become my next favorite," 

"Sick," Minamo jeered, pulling her ear away from the door. She went to her bed and began to think.  
"This is bad," she began to contemplate. "If I'm stuck in this body, I'm going to have to start all over again to regain my former stamina. That won't be so much of a problem since I'll be here. But another problem is when am I? How long have I been 'dead'?" Minamo sighed and began to think hard. Distant memories slowly revealed themselves, making them clearer.  
"Kabuto, he was the adopted son of Hiro-san, that medical ANBU scout. He's nineteen now, that means I died 13 years ago. Also, Orochimaru isn't with the Akatsuki any longer. He left a long time ago, probably. His hideout was filled with cells all probably filled with men, women, children alike all brainwashed to stand loyal to the snake's deceit and malice. It's not a wonder why Orochimaru left after I got appointed Hokage. He left after, revealed his ghastly experiments, after I got what he wanted. He'd kill me if he found out who I am."  
She paused, closed her eyes and breathed out her anxiety. Slowly she opened her eyes, revealing a spark of sheer determination.  
"I'm going to have to gain his trust," she concluded.

A loud thumping sound erupted from Minamo's room and the sound of running footsteps played along with it. Kabuto groaned as he made his way to the door, wondering what the strange girl was doing. He forced the door open and barged in.  
"What are you..!"  
Minamo was punching at the wall of hard rock. The wall and her knuckles were covered with blood, her fingers were bruised and gritty from the constant contact.  
"Nothing," she replied, her eyes not leaving the massive hole she created. Kabuto grabbed her fists at the same time punching her head in hopes to get some common sense into her. Minamo jerked his grip off of her hands.  
"I'm bleeding," she said, inspecting her red hands. Kabuto's shoulders fell from the shock.  
She moved her wounded hands towards him. "Here."  
"Eh?"  
"You're a medical ninja, aren't you?" she stated, "Fix me,"  
"A-ah," Kabuto relented, rolling his eyes as he did and carefully healed the strange woman's wounds. He could feel heat rise from his temples. "Am I blushing?" he asked himself as he drew away his hands.  
"Good as new," Minamo breathed in satisfaction. Kabuto shook his head.  
"What were doing?" he asked, glaring at her questioningly. "Are you trying to escape?"  
"If I wanted to, I would aim at the door, not the 50 meter thick solid rock wall," she said pointing at the untouched metal door, then at the bloody hole in the wall.  
"Then what were you doing?" he asked.  
"I need to start somewhere, don't I? That is, if I want to get stronger. And to gain Orochimaru's trust." She wiped the blood off her hands.  
"That's all? If that was all you wanted you didn't need to injure yourself. Just ask." Kabuto laughed, with malice and amusement.  
"I'm asking now," she asked, glaring frostily. "You and I both know that I won't get far in this shape, when can I start?"  
"Now,"

* * *

"Good form," Kabuto commented as he oversaw Minamo's ability as she sparred against one of Orochimaru's lackey. Her speed was good, her body enabled her to have a greater agility and grace than she had in her past life. And she still had that kick-ass aura when she fought, giving her adrenaline and pleasure as she brought her opponent down. Her adversary was a young teen by the name of Abumi Zaku. He coughed from the constant attacks as he fell to the ground, unable comprehend his defeat.  
"Are you alright?" Minamo asked, bending down to him.  
"Do you think I am?" he asked testily.  
"Yes," she replied; then chuckled. "You're completely uninjured, that is, except for your pride," she laughed, pulling him off the ground. "Never got beaten by a girl before?"  
Zaku grunted and jerked her hand off of him, making him fall to the ground again.  
"But I got to say, you do put up a good fight."  
The boy remained silent. Minamo sighed, and then got up to leave. She turned to Kabuto.  
"Kabuto," she stuffed her hands in her pockets, "Is that all?"  
The man shook his head and then signaled a host of masked ninja all of whom charged at the girl, giving her the challenge she wanted. Her eyes narrowed in pleasure.  
From not too far away, a pleased Sannin watched, observing the girl's movements with complete enjoyment and satisfaction.  
"I was very lucky, to stumble upon someone as her," he cackled, proud of having found someone with her caliber. Her eyes were filled with pleasure as she fought; they were filled with shrewdness and strength. It was something that the Sannin hadn't come across in a long time, it was raw power. But what troubled him was whether or not he, himself, was in control of that power. She came along on her own will, but without any deal made, without any compromise. She just came. Followed them actually, saying that she'll tag along. She wanted a challenge, something to get her body moving.  
It was too strange, too perfect. Orochimaru smiled evilly to himself believing that she could even become an alternative body for him, if Sasuke wouldn't meet his standards. But he doubted that.  
"How can I use, such an amazing body?" the snake asked itself. "What can I do to her that will make me interested for a bit longer?" Then an idea struck his head. In three months the Chuunin exams would take place at Konoha. He's been planning for that day for three years, perfecting every attack, every move, disguising every loophole so that none could be found. And through the assault, he will gain not only Konohagakure, but also the Sharingan, through Sasuke. Putting Minamo into the picture would be simple. What better way to gain the trust of the naïve Konoha genin, then with the affection of a woman? There was none.

* * *

"So?" Orochimaru asked. Minamo laughed silently.  
"Basically you want me to seduce them?" she asked. The Sannin just informed her of his thoughts and plan. She understood it fairly well.  
"Sure why not?" she laughed, "I could use another challenge."  
Three weeks had already passed when Minamo set foot in Orochimaru's dreary, wet, cold, frosty, moist, murky, disgusting lair. During that time, her talent was molded and perfected. Her former techniques were in complete form, except for the ones she needed to practice in secret, like the Rasengan and the Hiraishin no Jutsu, as to not reveal her identity. But everything else was fine.  
As well as that, Minamo also captured Orochimaru's attention, it gave her the edge that she needed. The snake was still skeptical of her but trusted her enough, enough to put her own plan into action.  
Her own plan was simple.  
It was interference. And everything was working out beautifully. 

The next few weeks were irksome, not only did Minamo have to travel with the slimy snake of a man and the perverted teenage medic to the Sand, but she also was in charge of baby-sitting the three Sound-ninja that would partake in the Exams. The baby-sitting she had no problem with, the trip to Suna, she wished was put out of her mind forever. Too many familiar faces and deaths were met.

But soon enough, when her patience was about to dim, the date of arrival approached. She was going back to Konoha. She was going back home.

* * *

So that's the 2nd chapter, the 3rd will be out in about a week.  
Hope you enjoyed the story so far. 

Seeya  
Triple Threat


	3. Arrival

Warning: the following text is exceedingly and very cliché! Forgive me, I had too much sugar the day I wrote this. And I am far too lazy to change the amazingly banal and silly text that is to follow. And also many parts are from the canon plot, so it may be a spoiler for the newbies.

I don't own Naruto or anything affiliated with it, but I do own the plot.

(Made some changes on this one)

* * *

She really didn't care if her muscles were screaming from the surges of excruciating pain, or if her feet were yelping, or if her head was spinning in marginal courses because she was home.

She was back home; where she truly belonged, The Hidden Village of the Leaves, Konohagakure.

It was livelier than she remembered, the people seemed to have more color, the ambience looked more cheerful.

And on the mountaintop she remembered were only three faces, but now there was four.

"At least they made me look good," Minamo chuckled to herself as she gazed at the likeness of the Yondaime. She grinned, and for some reason, she was nearly at tears.+

"You remember the plan, right?" Kabuto asked for the umpteenth time. Minamo smiled warmly and nodded.

"How could I forget, you repeated it to me nonstop for 7 hours straight," she laughed. Kabuto reddened and looked away.

"Do you have a fever? You're red?" Minamo pointed out.

"No," he replied bluntly, fixing his glasses. "Change of climate, it affects the bodily homeostasis. Merely a reaction, that's all," he explained. Minamo smirked.

"Right, of course, the bodily homeostasis," she chuckled. He frowned.

"Are you making fun of me?" he asked

"No," she responded, "Why would I make fun of you? Your looks are degrading enough. I'm not that heartless." She laughed.

"Did you look in the mirror lately? And you're commenting me on how _I_ look," he retorted.

Minamo looked at her clothes, which consisted of baggy cargo pants, a baggy shirt and a baggy cap with the Konoha plate sewed on the side. The bandages on her arms didn't help much either. It practically screamed "I'm a boy!"

"What's wrong with it?" she asked.

"Couldn't you wear something more…feminine?"

Minamo frowned, "Pervert,"

Kabuto reddened, "What are you talking about?" he said as calmly as he could.

Minamo lifted her gaze awry, "Oh, you know exactly what I mean, hentai!"

"What are you…!"

"I'm going to check the perimeters and confirm the rendezvous points!" she shouted, cutting Kabuto off.

"You are no good with women," Yoroi cackled.

"Shut up," Kabuto hissed.

* * *

Minamo walked among the crowd, just building up the nostalgia and warm memories.

"Oh, I should have a bowl of ramen," she reminded herself, then stopped for a moment. "Um, where _is_ the ramen stand?" she asked, staring blankly at the sky.

So then began the former Hokage's demeaning search to find the Ichiraku Ramen stand that she forgot the location of.

She walked this way and that, for about fifteen minutes, but then something distracted her search. A moving rock, a rectangular box painted to look like a boulder with two eye holes cut out in the front.

"That's so obvious," she smiled to herself and discontinued her search for ramen and began to follow the rock.

As it passed through an alleyway, she stopped at the corner and watched the strange events.

From their extravagant introductions, Minamo indirectly met Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon, the three members of the Konohamaru Corps. Their so-called 'leader' captured Minamo's attention. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him, even when his teammate punched into the wall.

"No," she murmured, "It can't be," she couldn't believe what she saw. "Naruto,"

His blond hair and blue eyes gave him away immediately, thus Minamo was staring at a shrunken version of himself. She had thought this while researching Sasuke's team but was still in shock from the wave of regret and awful memories.

The cry of a hawk overhead caused her to look up. She frowned. When she looked back at the children, she saw something (or someone) that would be one of the worst possible thing for the kids to cross with. One of them ran into Kankuro and he had him by the collar.

She met the Sand siblings during her trip to the Sand prior to arriving to Konoha, she got their respect soon after.

"Shit," she cursed, but still watched from her location to swoop in at the right time.

"That hurt, brat," the sand ninja spat, strengthening his grip on the boy's collar.

"Stop it, we're going to get scolded later," Temari said.

"Yeah, by me," Minamo hissed from her spot.

"Gomenasai, We were just joking around…" one of the Konoha genin exclaimed. Minamo guessed in was Sakura, the only female in Team 7. At the rear, Minamo saw the girl tremble in fear.

"Hey, let go of him!" Naruto ordered, his fists clenched. No one has ever ordered Kankuro around and got away with it, except for Gaara, and if Naruto continued, he would feel the wrath of the guy in make-up.

Minamo slapped her forehead at her son's stupidity, "That's definitely him. He's got your charm, Kushina,"

Then she saw Kankuro smirk. "But I want to play around before some people come," the Sand teenager jeered.

"Why you…!" Naruto yelled, breaking out in a run.

"Now!" she told herself.

Before anything else could happen, the child was out of the Sand ninja's grip and both he and Naruto were in Minamo's arms, she set them down.

"Kankuro, if you hate children that much, I would suggest staying away from them," she said, her eyes threatening. "Plus, you wouldn't want to bring disgrace upon yourself and the Sand if you were torturing children several years younger than you,"

"R-right," the teen stuttered, backing away.

"Suminasen, Minamo-san, it won't happen again," Temari apologized.

"Good," Minamo said, "And kid, if you want to throw rocks, make sure it's not at a person," she smirked, dropping a small stone from her levitated hand. She turned to a dark-haired boy sitting stiffly in a nearby tree.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Minamo raised her arm to silence her. Another menacing figure emerged.

"Minamo-san," Gaara said emotionlessly.

"Gaara-chi, it's been a while, hasn't it?" the woman smirked. The boy cringed at the name. "Ne, Gaara-chi, would you mind in telling your older brother and sister to leave these kids alone?" she asked, her eyes frosty and serious.

"You don't need to ask him, we're leaving," Kankuro spat, turning to leave. The others followed suit.

"Oh and Kankuro-kun," Minamo called. The three stopped. "If you touch, provoke or do anything to harm these kids, you know what I can and will do to you,"

Kankuro nodded stiffly and walked away.

"Wah! That was really cool!" Moegi shouted with delight. Minamo grinned and self-consciously rubbed the back of her head.

"It's nothing," she said, then began to walk away. "It's not that cool. But you know, being cool is just a cover-up of the hurt inside,"

She turned to Sasuke.

"It works well," and she left them, speechless and confused. "By the way, my name is Minamo,"

* * *

It was dark again, nothingness consumed her yet she was fully conscious of it. Minamo looked at her hands, they were calloused and rough. The she looked at her body and gasped. She was in her old body.

"What is this?" Minato asked. The Shinigami cackled silently.

"Your time is almost up. And you barely kept me interested. The only thing was attracting was what was going on between you and that kid."

"Kabuto?"

The Death god nodded.

"I'm already married. Do you really think I'd fall for a guy? A guy like him?"

The god murmured unintelligently. "You still don't get it, do you?"

Minato frowned, "What do you mean?"

The god burst out in laughter, "You'll see. Well then, Sayonara, MinaMO,"

Minamo woke up in a start, and sighed to see her female body.

"Bad dream?" Kabuto sat at a nearby table.

"Was Abu-chi worried?" she asked, she laughed as he turned red. She sat down at the table. She sighed. "Naw, just thought I was late," she explained stretching her arms. "You know I met the kids yesterday,"

"Were they idiotic?" he asked, taking out some medical tools and sharpening them.

"No," she snapped, "You're as bad as Kankuro! He was tormenting them and some others too,"

Kabuto frowned.

"What?" she asked, "Am I too kind-hearted for you, Abu-chi?"

"How did you come up with that nickname?"

"Take the 'K' and the 'to' off of your name and your left with 'Abu' she clarified. He shook his head.

Then their teammate, Akado Yoroi, walked into the room, "Quit it you lovebirds," he ordered. "The test is about to start,"

"Written test, wonderful," Kabuto sighed as he lifted himself.

"Abu-chi needs to be more optimistic," Minamo commented, standing up as well. "But you two boys remember what we need to do, right?" she asked, hanging her arms from her head. They nodded and all of them evaporated, leaving the room quiet and restless.

Moments later, the three were in the exam room, waiting for the exam.

"The tension here is crazy," Minamo told herself, as she peered at the people surrounding her. "I remember the Chuunin exams but that was a bit more lenient and I was 6," she shuddered.

Then she heard the Konoha rookies enter the room, making quite a ruckus. She shot a look at Kabuto. He nodded in response and made his way up to the rambunctious nine rookies. He began to calm them down and gently telling them that the exam is a hard cookie to bite. They trembled from the pressure, and he showed them his ninja-info cards.

Then Naruto just _had _to shout out his declaration of victory at that moment. Minamo's head fell.

"He's too much like Kushina," she thought. "I'm going," she told Yoroi. The masked man nodded in response and she got up to go.

"Did you listen to anything Kabuto said?" she asked, stuffing her hands in her pocket and walking leisurely up to the rookies. "You just made the whole entire host of elite ninja into your enemy."

"EH! You're the guy who…" Naruto screamed pointing accusingly at her. She ran to him and covered his mouth.

"I wouldn't yell at the moment, you're already drawing too much attention," she said scanning the harsh glares. "By the way, I'm a girl," she smiled. His eyes widened in shock. She grabbed his forehead protector and slipped it over his mouth.

"You should put it there," she said, "It works better."

The other genin chuckled; Naruto pouted and repositioned his headband.

"Minamo, you met them before?" Kabuto asked innocently.

"Yeah, I saved their butts from Sand kids. It was after the time you were trying to flirt with me, remember?"

"I wasn't flirting," he snapped.

"Sure," she turned to the rookies, all trying to contain their building laughter. Well, Naruto was trying to. The others were staid. "Anyway, a word from the wise, if you guys want to be Chuunin, you have to look underneath the underneath."

Team 7 froze, as they all recognized the same words that their own sensei spoke during their first survival training, it troubled them.

"And also think before you act," she added on, turning to Naruto and then broke out in a grin.

Sakura gasped as she stared at Minamo's smile, it was so similar…to Naruto's devilish smirk.

"That's so creepy," she said to herself.

Minamo swiftly jerked her face up with surprise as if noticing something. Suddenly she flashed in front of Kabuto with kunai positioned in each hand, blocking two kunai attacks from a boy that jumped into the air. Then another appeared from behind her and made a punch at Kabuto, he quickly dodged it.

The rookies gasped from the sudden attack, but were relieved to see Kabuto unhurt as he reached the ground. But then his glasses cracked and he suddenly threw up on the floor.

"Kabuto!" the rookies cried as they ran to him. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," he spluttered uneasily.

"How pathetic, and you're a 4 year veteran aren't you?" one of the Sound ninja asked.

"Yeah, that's the difference between a good shinobi and a bad one," Minamo snapped suddenly appearing behind the three. "It's called experience. And with the way that you three are acting, Chuunin rank is far from your grasp," she hissed walking around them, then facing their glares.

"And what about you? You had enough of this 'experience'?" Zaku asked.

Minamo smirked, "No actually, it's my first time,"

"What!? No way, but you're in the same team as Kabuto-san, aren't you!?" Sakura exclaimed, obfuscated.

"One of his teammates couldn't make it," she said, "I'm filling in,"

"But seeing your caliber, you seem to be at Chuunin or even Jounin level," Sasuke pointed out. "Why would you be taking the exam?"

"I just moved here not too long ago. I'm from the Sand. And even if my abilities might be higher, I still have to take it. I was just too lazy to before." Then she turned to the Sound ninjas. "As for you three, do you think that you could do whatever you want!? It's my first time too, and I'm smart enough not to start a meaningless fight right before a ranking exam," she scolded. "It's a good thing that the examiner isn't here."

"Well, too bad I am here, you loudmouth bunch of worthless brats!?" a booming voice called from the front of the room. It began to fill with smoke.

"That tone of voice, foul language, that's got to be him," Minamo smirked. A legion of examiners appeared at the front of the room. And leading them was a familiar face.

"Morino Kiki-kun, long time no see, ne?" Minamo chuckled.

"Thanks for waiting. I'm Ibiki Morino, the examiner of the first test of the Chuunin Exams!" Ibiki shouted. The room was in an uneasy silence. Then the burly man pointed to the Sound-nin. "Hey, do you three want to fail already!?"

"It's their first time, Kiki-kun, give them a break," Minamo smirked. The room's tension doubled with pressure.

The examiner glared at the girl and smirked. "You're one bold girl,"

"Thank you,"

"But with that kind of spunk you won't even pass this exam! And basic rules, if you engage in battle without the permission of an examiner, you will fail. And even if you do, killing will not be tolerated," he glared at the Sound ninja. "All those who disobey me, will fail,"

The people in the room shook with fear.

"Now, the inspectors will hand you each a number placard you are to sit by that number. Then we will hand out the tests."

"What, it's a written test!" Naruto shouted. Minamo shook her head at Naruto's booming personality and began to consult with her teammates.

"Cheating's the only way, huh?" she murmured to herself as she glanced at her placard. '52' it read. She made her way to the seat, she couldn't believe who she sat next to.

"I wonder if the Shinigami is doing this on purpose," she muttered as she sat down next to a sulking Naruto. Not only was Naruto on the same team with Sasuke, Orochimaru's primary target, but her old student as well, Kakashi Hatake. She was beginning to think that the Death god had in fact arranged all of this.

"Cheer up, kid," she smiled, nudging him with her elbow. "It can't be_that _bad,"

He turned to her, dark circles underneath his eyes added on to his dreary and dead look. "I'm doomed," he said miserably.

"You'll do fine," Minamo said, "He will, won't he?" she asked the girl on the other side of Naruto.

"Oh, Hinata!" Naruto said with surprise, not knowing that the shy girl was right next to him. Minamo shook her head.

"Poor thing," she thought to herself, "He's completely clueless. He get's that from me!" she grinned.

"Hai, I…I think that Naruto-kun will do really well," Hinata stuttered.

"Yeah, we can do it," Minamo said, forming an encouraging fist. Then Ibiki called their attention. They were about to begin the first test of the Chuunin exams.

I think there's at least 20 clichés in it.

* * *

Seeya,

Triple Threat


	4. Clash! 1st Exam!

"This is so boring," Minamo said to herself as she leaned on her propped hand. Ibiki was explaining the 'oh-so-very-important' rules of the test. She turned to her son that fervently sweated. She gave him a troubled glance wishing that she could help him.

"He's probably not going to get the point of the test, huh?" she said to herself. "Should I tell him? Or should I send him to his doom? That's a hard choice," she thought hard.

"I know he's practically my son. Wait, he _is_ my son and I should, as a good father, assist him. BUT also as a good father, I should allow him to handle his own problems," she contemplated.

She sighed, "Parenting is difficult." Minamo looked at the board that Ibiki was writing on. There listed the rules.

1-Each person starts off with 10 points. The test consists of 10 questions and 1 point is subtracted for each question answered incorrectly.

2-The test is noted on team participation, meaning that passing the test will be determined by combining the team's total score.

3-Those who are caught cheating will be taken 2 points off for each offense

4-Any that will fail, due to any reason, will be unable to pass along with their teammates

Minamo cringed at the last, thinking immediately of Naruto. If he took after Kushina, he probably wasn't the brightest bulb in the world.

"You have one hour," Ibiki stated. "Begin!"

The sound of flipping paper reverberated through the room. Minamo casually flipped her paper over and flinched at the questions.

"What the…" she said scanning the paper, "This is absolutely ridiculous. But I guess it's understandable," she pulled out a case from her pocket and opened it and took out a wooden pen; she began to fiddle with it. She glanced at the stationed examiners and then at her paper, and 'wrote' her first answer.

Minamo smiled to herself as she felt the chakra pulse through the pen. Before the test began, Kabuto distributed the pens. Each pen was connected to the other by a very thin line of chakra and enabled just a single pen to do all the work. Kabuto held that pen but he didn't need to do much either. The guy in front of him did.

Using an advanced technique he developed that one can use to copy another's body. So basically Kabuto copied everything that the guy in front of him was doing and the pens copied whatever Kabuto's pen did. It was practically perfect system.

"Great, now create a diversion," the pen wrote. Minamo set the pen down.

In order for Kabuto to perform the jutsu, a diversion was to be made. Even if it took away the eyes of the proctors for a second, that was all that was needed for him to work his magic.

Minamo didn't tell Abu-chi what she was going to do, but she said it was pure brilliance.

She reached in her pocket and pulled out the deadliest thing a human being could carry into that place.

It was…an apple.

Naruto stopped from his moping of vexing misery and angst and turned to her in wonder. Minamo smirked at him and pulled out a pocket knife from her holster, and began to peel the fruit.

The people around her stopped their activities and stared at her in wonder. Even Sakura paused to gawk at Minamo's bizarre and stupid actions. Yet she kept on peeling; soon enough, all of the proctors had their eyes on her when she finished peeling. Morino kept both of his dark eyes on her.

When done, she admired the perfectly peeled specimen of fruit and pulled out a small plate from her holster set it before her, then put the apple on it. She smiled happily at it.

Sakura felt her brow sweat, "Minamo-san, what are you doing?"

Minamo picked up her pen and started to write again. The proctors lingered their gaze on her for a while, shaking their heads as they did. But after making sure she didn't do anything else, they averted their gaze.

Minamo smirked as she reached the 10th question. She finished. Sighing with relief, she pretended to write more. As she did, she shifted the apple peels towards Naruto, surreptitiously, and gently nudged his elbow. He looked at the peels, and his eyes widened. A message was written on them.

"Naruto if you make any sudden movement or even turn to look at me, I will stuff the apple down your throat and kill you with the knife," was the first part.

Several beads of nervous sweat trickled down his brow.

"This is not a test of your intelligence, there's no need to cheat. It's a test to see if you can get info from other people without getting caught. The guy behind us, got caught,"

At that moment, a kunai zipped past Naruto and Minamo landing on a guy's sheet of paper.

"What the..! What was that for!" he yelled.

The proctor smiled maliciously, "You messed up 5 times. You fail."

Naruto felt his jaw tremble; Minamo was right.

He glanced at the peels again. This time they were closer to him and blank. He frowned, bewildered. Then writing began to appear on the peels.

"I will kill you and Hinata if you do anything rash,"

Naruto froze, he felt a slight jab on his thigh, and he looked down to see Minamo holding a small knife to the side of his leg. Her other hand held the apple she was eating. She gave him a glare.

She meant business.

Naruto slightly nodded, and the knife disappeared. During the next couple of minutes more people got caught, and Naruto pretended to write his answers down. Hinata looked at him in worry.

"Naruto-ku…"

"Hinata, no," Naruto murmured quietly, his eyes not leaving his paper.

Hinata could see the sweat trickle down his face. "Don't worry about great ninjas,"

Hinata smiled and looked back at her test.

"Now it's time for the 10th question," Ibiki stated.

Minamo instantly droned out. Nothing came to her ears, and she just merely looked outside the window while finishing her apple.

She knew Ibiki's way of thinking by heart, in her past life, she helped out many of the kids at the Academy, Ibiki was one of them. Even though he stood out as a menacing and burly guy, Ibiki was probably the sweetest guy Minamo ever knew. She didn't need to listen, or merely didn't care.

"But he can torture to death with his questions," Minamo smiled. "It's not a wonder he's the Interrogation and Torture Captain. Congrats, Kiki-kun,"

Naruto gasped with fret and fear. Minamo turned to him in question.

"What kind of stupid rule is that!?" a genin rookie shouted from behind them, "There are guys here who taken the exam before!"

Ibiki chuckled. "You guys are unlucky, because this year, this test goes by my rules," he said; so evilly, Minamo began to doubt if it was the same Ibiki she knew.

"But I'm giving you a way out," he said, "Those who don't want to take the task can leave, and try again next year."

"Harsh," Minamo shook her head. She turned to Naruto to see him sweating furiously, obviously battling with the pros and cons of the situation.

"Those who wish not to take it raise their hand," Ibiki informed.

The tension rose and after a moment of pressuring silence

"I won't take it," a guy that sat to the side of Minamo.

He apologized to his teammates and they left. Others followed suit. Minamo figured out what they were doing.

"Kiki's being really cruel," she muttered, fiddling with the apple peels. Naruto began to tremble.

She placed a comforting hand on his shaking shoulder.

"It'll be alright," she said with a smile. Naruto cautiously nodded. Then he did something Minamo didn't expect.

Naruto raised his hand, still trembling, high into the air. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hand on the table. "I'm not going to run away! I'll take that chance. Even if I'll be a genin forever, I'll become Hokage anyway, so I don't care!"

Minamo smirked, "Kushina, I sure hope you're happy with your child. He's got guts."

Morino Ibiki frowned, "I'll ask you again. Your life depends on this single decision, and it's your last chance to quit."

Naruto glared back, "I follow my unbending ways," he said proudly. "That is my 'Way of the Ninja'!"

"That's deep, kid. But rash," she smiled at him.

The tension suddenly lifted from the room, everyone turned to him as if he saved them from their deaths. Minamo saw Ibiki smirk.

"Congratulations then, you all in this room passed the test,"

* * *

"You follow the kids, I'll find us a scroll," Kabuto informed Minamo as they lounged about the gate of the 44th training center, or famously known as the Forest of Death.

Minamo nodded, gazing leisurely at the clear sky above her.

Several clouds littered the pure and flawless sea of blue. Minamo could keep her eyes off of it.

The signal suddenly rang and the gates opened, the genin rushed in.

Team Kabuto slowly made their way to a dense area of forest. Then they waited.

"Now," Kabuto ordered, the others nodded and went their separate ways.

Once she was out of the range, Minamo brought her hands together.

"With that tag on him, I'll find them easily," she smiled.

During the first exam, Minamo attached a small tag on Naruto which was infused with her chakra.

It was simply a measure to track him.

She evaporated into thin air. The next moment, she was standing behind a tree where she could easily spy the Naruto's team. But she got caught.

The young Uchiha swerved around suddenly, throwing a kunai in her direction. She quickly dodged it, stepping from her hiding spot. She threw her hands up.

"It's just me!" she shouted.

"Minamo-san!" Sakura shouted in relief and shock.

Minamo waved stiffly. She turned to Naruto, who pouted with a cold frown.

"No 'Hello'? Or even a 'Yo'? What kind of person are you who treats the person who saved them _twice_ like this?" she smirked.

"Person, what person?" he asked, as if unknowing.

Before Minamo could say anything Sasuke interrupted, "Did you listen on our conversation? And where's the rest of your team?" he asked.

"No, I just got here and we are all meeting up at the tower."

"You must be trust them a lot, and certain that they won't die," he said with a frosty glare.

"Of course," she said, "They're my team after all," she grinned.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his gaze grew colder. Minamo patted the Uchiha on the head.

"You really don't trust anyone do you?" she smiled.

He huffed and shoved her off of him, then Minamo noticed a bamboo shoot in the middle of the clearing. Instantly, she knew it was Orochimaru, taking the guise of a Grass-nin.

"Maybe we should leave," she suggested.

Sasuke caught her drift. He noticed the bamboo shoot long before and nodded to his teammates. Confused, they left the clearing.

"You have a good eye, there, Sasuke-kun," Minamo dared whisper under the tense ambiance.

The Uchiha responded with a subtle yet cold glare.

"Frosty and chilling, but good," she joked.

"Why are you following us?" he asked, more so seethed.

Naruto and Sakura stopped and looked behind to face them.

"I have no scroll, if that's what you're asking," she responded.

"That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking as to why you're following us," he said bluntly and bitterly. "We have no reason to trust you,"

"Just because I trust you guys, right?" she stuffed her hands in her pocket and let out a sigh.

"I'm here to help you guys, what the heck, I even saved your butts from the Sand-nin. That's not enough for you to trust me?" she asked.

"…" he made no response.

"I trust her," Naruto abruptly said. He smirked slightly with color appearing on his cheeks. "She did help us before, and she helped me in the exam. And I…"

Before Naruto could finish his surprisingly well speech, a gargantuan snake appeared before them.

It hissed for a millisecond and immediately lunged.

"Scram!" Minamo shouted, the ninja quickly disappeared just in time.

The snake's head impacted with the forest ground. It quickly recovered and searched for its next target. Several kunai immediately impaled the serpent, and the tags on them exploded.

Sasuke, from his vantage point could see Minamo as she threw another set of tagged kunai and shuriken at the humorously large snake. He followed suit.

Looping thread through the centers of some shuriken, threw them at the trunks of the trees that surrounded the hissing snake.

Securing them, he pulled hard on the thread having all of the shuriken fly towards his reptile opponent.

Minamo saw this and quickly muttered a jutsu, setting sparks of lighting through the thread.

The snake roared in pain as it slowly and painfully went to its death.

Minamo smirked as smoke hissed from the burning corpse.

"Good teamwork," she smiled as she bounded up to Sasuke.

The boy took a glance at her and instantly frowned.

Suddenly he had a kunai up to her throat, "What's the password?!" he ordered, pressing the tip of the blade in the skin of her neck.

"What are you talking about?! We didn't talk about a password!?" she cried, tilting her head back, eyeing the knife.

"Yes we did," another Minamo said, coming up from behind Sasuke. "…While we were walking away from your eavesdropping scenario. You're one of the Grass-nin, aren't you?" she murmured, readying a kunai in her hand.

The 1st Minamo's eyes widened.

Sasuke then whipped the kunai away from the 1st Minamo's neck and flung it at the second one.

"Actually we didn't talk about a password," Sasuke sneered, as the 2nd Minamo transformed back into one of the Grass ninja. "We talked about how to draw you out,"

"Apparently it worked," Minamo chuckled, massaging her throat as she took a stance behind Sasuke.

"Apparently so," the ninja hissed, laughingly yet evilly.

Suddenly a vicious killing intent spurred from the shinobi. The sudden furiousness and force rendered the two immobile, as images of the deaths appeared agonizingly in their minds.

"But you two will die anyway,"

* * *

Reviews are greatly appreciated. 

The next chapter will be up by, if not sooner, the 12th of December.

I do not own Naruto but I do have possession of this plot.


	5. Forest of Death! 2nd Exam!

If you don't know who Juugo is then I advise you to read chapters 350 and 351 of the manga and then read this chapter.

And sorry about the delay, wouldn't allow me to post this chapter.

* * *

"I'm still not used to it," Minamo cringed. She was referring to the intense melodramatic tension that Orochimaru's jutsu had put upon them. A gruesome death played before her eyes.

"You have the Heaven Scroll, do you not?" the Grass ninja hissed. "Don't you want my Earth Scroll?" He pulled out his scroll with a menacing gesture.

Minamo could see Sasuke shake.

"He doesn't do well under pressure," Minamo muttered to herself. As soon as Orochimaru was devouring the scroll, she ran off, grabbed Sasuke by the arms and ducked into the forest.

While bounding over the earthen ground, Sasuke still shook. His breathing lessened but still remained at a heavy and slow pace.

"You alright?" she asked. Sasuke gave a stiff nod.  
"You can put me down now," he murmured, his voice was shaky like a dead leaf resisting against a fierce autumn wind.  
"Not right now," she muttered in return, "Your team is somewhere nearby,"  
And as she predicted, the loud voices of an arguing Naruto and Sakura could be heard from a not-too-far distance.  
She dived towards that area. From above she could see Sakura and Naruto yelling at each other with raised and upset voices. Around them was another team, who looked extremely familiar.  
"Get down!" She screamed from above, landing at the clearing. She let go of Sasuke, who bounded towards his team, pushing both of them into the thick brush. Minamo did the same with the other team, she then recognized them.  
"Ino-Shika-Cho?" she asked herself, "It's gotta be them," she smiled inwardly. So they did eventually get kids, those alcoholics."

"What's going on!?" Naruto screamed.

"Quiet!" Minamo ordered. It got dead silent.

She turned behind her, crouching low to the ground. She couldn't hear or feel anything sign of Orochimaru.

"He's probably hiding at the rendezvous point," She turned to the teenagers, "You guys stay here. Try not to do anything. I'll take care of everything,"

Still a bit stunned, they all nodded. Minamo left the brush, and then carefully eyed her surroundings. She created a genjutsu to provide cover for the 2 teams.

"You realize that a simple genjutsu won't protect them, right?" a voice hissed.

Minamo took a breath, "Just like we rehearsed, but with a little twist," she told herself. "But it'll be enough, since I'm here," she retorted.

It went on as planned, Minamo, performed numerous techniques, combating Orochimaru with skill and agility It seemed as if she was going to win.

But in the end, she got 'knocked out'. The snake Sannin threw the woman against the firm trunk of a nearby tree.

"Minamo-san!" Sakura screamed in fret, revealing the teens' hiding spot.

"Oh great," Minamo thought as she shut her eyes. "But I need to wait it out for now,"

From what she could hear, the 6 ninja did their best. But even their best, wasn't enough to defeat the Sannin. Sasuke even offered to give up his Heaven Scroll and Naruto got beaten unconscious.

Minamo reminded herself of the distinct orders Orochimaru gave to her.

"Let me inject him with the serum for the cursed mark and then you intervene."

"Like hell, I'll let you bite him!" she cursed, finding Orochimaru's and Sasuke's combating chakra signatures. She charged from her spot, pulling a strange knife from her holster. After biting the end of her thumb, she swiped the blood across the blade and forced chakra into it.

Orochimaru's neck began to elongate. Closer and closer, it reached Sasuke's bare neck.

Ino and Sakura screamed. A clash of metal echoed with the dying reverberations of their screams of fright.

Minamo's short knife lengthened into a long blade of glowing chakra. The blade had prevented Orochimaru to sink his poisoned teeth into Sasuke's shoulder. But the tip of his teeth did perforate the skin.

For a moment, they stayed at a still, using all their strength to push and to force back. Finally, Minamo pulled her blade up, forcing Orochimaru's baring fangs back, and just enough for the genin to pull Sasuke out and get him to temporary safety.

The pain settled in slowly and excruciatingly making the Uchiha scream with agony.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to intervene here," Minamo hissed.

Orochimaru jerked his head out of the way, returning it back to his shoulders.

"What is she doing?" the Sannin asked himself. Minamo appeared before him, her blade in a firm hand.

"There'll be another time," she muttered, her eyes narrowed. "For you to enact your revenge on Konohagakure, but it will not be now! And it will not be on these kids!"

Orochimaru got the message, and dodged as Minamo began to strike with her sword.

When she was near enough, he whispered vilely, "You better make up for it,"

"I have the poison in my holster, I'll inject it when I can," she muttered back. Orochimaru nodded and drew back away from her.

"You make a fine opponent, Minamo-chan. I shall hope I see you in the future," Orochimaru hissed aloud.

"I hope not, Orochimaru," Minamo hissed back.

With that, the Snake melted into the dead bark of the tree.

Minamo sighed in relief. "So far so good,"

She materialized before Naruto, who was pinned to the tree and brought him down.

"Minamo-san, are you alright?" Sakura asked as Minamo brought Naruto and set him down on the moss. She nodded, flashing a warm grin.

"Is Ke-chan okay?" she asked.

"Ke-chan?"

"Oh sorry, Sasuke-kun, is he alright?" she chuckled heavily. Sakura nodded and turned to an exhausted and suffering Sasuke, who was being treated by Ino.

"Tsk, this Chuunin exam is too dangerous. So troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled; he leaned his head against a tree and slid down to a sit.

"He takes after his dad," Minamo raised her brow.

"Might as well get used to it, you're a ninja. This is what Ninja do, every single day of their entire lives."

Minamo smirked at his reaction and then crouched near Sasuke. She placed a cool hand on his forehead. He shuddered and then cringed.

"He's over-heating," she stated, then unclothed his shoulder. The two girls tensed.

"The poison permeated the skin. Most of the skin cells are damaged. It'll be bad if it seeped into the bloodstream."

Minamo began on babbling, stating random facts and instructions. She scooped the boy up in her arms and carried him to where Naruto was laying.

"Sasuke, nod if you can hear me," she said to the hypo-ventilating teen.

Sasuke slowly nodded.

"Kay, I'm gonna try to get something to stop the poison. I'm going to give you an infusion of incentive. You understand?"

He nodded again, and rested his eyes. Slowly relaxing all of his muscles, he let Minamo inject a sleeping aid. After his breathing lessened she turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, introduce me to the other three," Minamo ordered, turning to the pink-haired girl.

"H-hai!" she immediately straightened her back, "This is Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji! They are Rookie Genin like us. They come from Team 10 led by Sarutobi Asuma…"

"That's enough," Minamo laughed. "No need to give me their personal biographies and profiles. Now who's good with plants?"

Ino awkwardly raised her hand.

"Good, do you know what kind of herbs people use for antibiotics? Or better yet infections?"

"There's the Echinacea flower that supposedly reduces the duration of an ailment," Ino murmured after a time of thought.

"…Anything else? What about the Digitalis lanata? That works as antiarrhythmic agent and intrope, doesn't it?"

Ino tilted her head in confusion.

"That's the foxglove, right?" Sakura asked, "It should help with relaxing his muscle fibers,"

Minamo nodded, "Do you guys know what it looks like?"

Ino and Sakura nodded.

"Right, you two look for those and other herbs that can relax lactic acid build-up. Shika-kun, Cho-kun, I need you guys to get food, water and other necessities. We need to set up camp here."

The four nodded, the boys a bit reluctantly. Minamo reached into her holster and pulled out 2 spools of chakra threads and threw them at the kids.

"Use these to get back."

They dispersed.

"Good," Minamo muttered. She dug into her holster and pulled out several test tubes. She held one up to her eyes.

It was a grey liquid, murky and filled with red clotted powder. To the ignorant eye, it would look like excess from a sewer line.

To Minamo, it served as somewhat an antidote to the Cursed Mark.

During her stay with Orochimaru, Minamo made frequent visits to Orochimaru's Northern Base and befriended Juugo, the source of the mark.

Willingly, Juugo gave her a sample of blood for her to experiment on, with a plea for a remedy. Minamo answered with uncertainty but with a promise that she would try her best.

Getting no sleep during her time with Orochimaru actually paid off, she had finally found a disinfectant that countered the enzymes. In technical and biological terms, the active sites of the enzymes would be filled with the liquid, making it dormant but it came with a large and risky side affect. Not only did it make the enzymes of the poison dormant but other necessary ones as well.

"I need to add something acidic," she murmured, relaying the information in her head. She looked down at Sasuke. "His words are off the charts when in comes to acid, that is if I could contain them," she laughed at her own joke.

After a moment of chuckling, she pulled out another small vial filled with a powder. Adding a bit of the serum into the vial of powder, she injected it into Sasuke's wounded shoulder.

The serum spread quickly and the glowing red marks on the boy's shoulder slowly diminished.

"It would be better to repress that seal but I definitely can't do it here."

* * *

Ibiki Morino was at battle with his mind, holding a single piece of paper in his hand. For several hours straight he read it, rereading it and thensome. Yet he still couldn't comprehend it. 

_Kiki-kun, I realize this will sound unbelievably silly and absurd but you must at least hear me out. I am the reincarnation of Namikaze Minato and was granted all of his memories. Orochimaru has made a pact with the Sand and killed their Kazekage, though his death is still to be discovered by the Sand. _

_Both will attack Konohagakure at the 3__rd__ Exam of the Chuunin Exams. _

_Please show this to Sarutobi and tell him that the person who wrote this was the one who said that _Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

_I'll prove that I am Minato sooner or later, I promise. _

_Thank you, Kiki. _

_Say 'hi' to Idate for me._

_Oh, and get a girl. _

The last part he read over the most. Not many knew about his younger brother, let alone call him Kiki-kun. Even less would tell him to get hooked.

"It's been 13 years since I heard that name," he thought to himself.

It sounded like Minato, and the handwriting was unnaturally similar.

"Morino-san, you wished to see me?" the Hokage questioned. Ibiki stood, bowed and handed him the letter.

As expected, the elderly man read the note with a solemn face, breaking out in a smile once he reached the end.

"Strange," was all that the Hokage said; he stroked his beard.

"Do you believe it?" Ibiki asked.

"It certainly brings me to skepticism. But other than that it is convincing. What is your opinion?"

"Namikaze-sama was the only one who addressed me this informally and at the beginning of the exam the girl called me by that name. She was also very eccentric during the exam and never faltered under the pressure I simulated for the test."

The Hokage nodded and examined the note again.

_Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare._

It was a Japanese proverb that Minato used actively during his time as Hokage but only referring it to Sarutobi or someone with a higher authority.

Sarutobi remembered the time when Minato said the quote passionately when working on a project to reform the Academy system. He firmly stated that if nothing was done to improve the next generation then the future will fall into hell.

"_I will not daydream, Sarutobi-san, I will take action and I will do it with revelation," _was what he said.

"I shall observe the girl during the course of the exam," he finally answered and Morino left with a bow.

Once Ibiki was out of earshot, the Hokage infused his chakra into the sheet of paper. The writing began to reform.

_This paper only reacts to your specific chakra signature, Hokage-sama. By doing this, you trust me, even if it is a little bit. I thank you, Sarutobi, or Masashi, I should say. Orochimaru plans to attack you and the village in order to take revenge and overtake Konohagakure. With this warning please prepare evacuation procedures for the next couple days. I beg of you. _

The Hokage stared at the paper, battling inwardly.

"Minato-san this really be you?" he asked.

* * *

Hours had passed since and Minamo was now sitting besides a glowing fire. Besides her were Team 10, Sakura and the unconscious Sasuke and Naruto. All of them either restless or resting, thinking or out of thoughts, quiet or reserved. The tension grew steadily each passing and dreadful second, making the teens unable to rest their heads and drift to sleep. 

Minamo noticed their sweaty faces and tense muscles. "You guys get to rest; we'll have a long day tomorrow. I'll keep watch," she told them. Team 10 nodded and they awkwardly lay down on the grass of the clearing. Sakura was yet to do the same, but instead she inched towards Minamo.

"A-ah," she began.

"Ah, what?"

"Thank you. That is, for helping us, me, Sasuke-kun, Naruto and even Ino-pig and her teammates." Sakura turned red and cradled her knees.

Minamo gave a hearty laugh. "…Ino-pig? That's what you call her? From what I saw it would seem that you two were the best of friends."

"We were, when we were young. Now we're rivals," Sakura answered, resting her chin on her knees.

"…For Sasuke's heart?" Minamo asked, a smile on her face. Sakura fumbled with her words. The older girl caringly ruffled her pink hair.

"It's alright, I won't tell," she promised, "But it is pretty obvious." She flashed a grin. "Anyway, you should think about your future, not a childhood crush…Sasuke doesn't deserve your love anyways,"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and turned to her with a…shocked expression.

"But let's not talk about that now!" Minamo shouted in reaction to the…shocked…face(?) of the…shocked…girl. She rummaged in her holster and pulled out a strangely shaped kunai that hung around her index finger.

"Ta-da! It's a special kunai."

She handed it to Sakura. "Use it well," she instructed as she stood. Then stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked off to check the surroundings.

Incapable of doing anything for a moment (or the whole entire series!), Sakura just stared at the kunai.

It was strangely shaped and had 3 points instead of one; a strange seal was attached to the shaft. She looked at the present and then at Minamo dissappearing shadow and smiled warmly.

* * *

Had a LOW moment there (Loss of Words) with the Sakura – Minamo scene. 

If I had any possession of Naruto then I would also rule the world, have Sasuke Uchiha wear a dress, make Sakura receive a head transplant for her demented brain, make Naruto by personal bunny-rabbit, eat chocolate everyday, ban zucchini from the face of the world, school hours would last 1 hour and the regular sleeping duration would be 22 hours, prejudice wouldn't exist, everyone would have the same amount of wealth, no one would call me a nerd and everyone that has a name beginning with the letters Z, E, Y and U will be my personal slaves. The list can continue but I know you'd rather not read this.

Instead you would like to read the next chapter that unfortunately will probably have to wait until next year.

And if you are a Sasuke or Sakura fan, I apologize for the previous comment.

If you believe that MY cute, adorable, blonde Naruto belongs to you, the YOU'RE WRONG…he belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-san.

The proverb I used I got from a site I don't remember and Sarutobi's name I just used Masashi. My brainwaves are dead from the distracting anticipation of my holiday break, so I wasn't thinking much with the little stuff.

Anyway, I shall be taking a LONG and much needed break from writing while on vacation.

(I'll probably won't get my hands on a computer either --')

Seeya,

Triple Threat

REVIEW PEOPLES!

Sorry I had a lot of sugar…again. I always have a sugar dose before I write.


	6. Filler Chapter 1!

Sorry for taking so long, I just never got the chance to piece it together. But I actually forced myself to finish this chapter.

So here it is, the not-so-great- next chapter.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Naruto complained as he carried a disinterested and injured Uchiha over his shoulder. Minamo chuckled. 

"Naruto, you're the one who got us up before the sun rose to get to the tower as quickly as possible," she stated.

"Yeah, so please shut up," Sakura muttered with a cold glare. Her perky green eyes were tired and had prominent bags underneath them. The same went for Ino and Chouji; Shikamaru seemed fine or seemed himself.

4 days had passed and Minamo dragged the two teams through the forest with nothing but a big smile and harsh training. Those four days were filled with charka control exercises, fighting technique lessons, Jutsu 411, long hours of meditation and numerous fights and quarrels.

The brawls were usually over something stupid and resulted with Minamo breaking it up every time and giving the punishment of 97 push-ups. She counted each vigilantly and the number rose with every tumult. After the 3rd day, they just stopped and learned their lesson in trying to tolerate each other.

"Will we be able to get a scroll in time?" Ino asked Minamo when they stopped at a creek to take a break.

Minamo nodded, "You'll get them sooner than you think," she smiled.

Ino smiled with hope and was about to walk away. But Minamo grabbed her shoulder.

"I'm serious. There's a team coming this way, rendezvous will be in 5 minutes,"

Her face was staid and emotionless as were her words which scared Ino.

The teen stood in shock and then realized she was telling the truth and that she wasn't going to aid them this time.

Ino ran off, "Set up an ambush!" she cried to the rest of the group. "A team's coming!"

The two teams instantly leaped from their spot and dashed off to find a place to hide.

Before Sasuke ducked underneath a brush, he made sure that all the traces of them being there were inexistent.

While underneath the thicket of leaves and twigs, he pulled off a small metal ring on his finger. By pushing a small point, a short needle sprung from the band and taking a leaf from the bush he wrote a simple plan to ambush the team. Then using a Wind Manipulation Technique he blew the leaf to the other genin.

Within a few minutes, the leaf returned with 5 small x's on the back and a 'Who made you boss!?' in Naruto's illegible handwriting.

This technique was thought up whim by Minamo who was cleaning out her holster of unnecessary items and came across a bunch of rings made Kin from the defected senbon she used. That morning, Minamo quickly molded and reshaped them into rings with a collapsible point and told the two teams about this innovative idea of communication.

Within a few moments, Team 10 and Team 7 both carried a Heaven and an Earth Scroll.

"Yatta-!" Naruto shouted with joy as he jumped in the air with an Earth Scroll clutched in his hand.

"Congratulations, you guys," Minamo smiled. She revealed herself from her hiding spot, which were the shadows of a large tree.

"Now all we need to do is get to the Tower and pass the 3rd Exam!" Sakura exclaimed cheerfully. Everyone nodded with hopeful faces and smiles.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Minamo stayed silent and forced a grin.

The group then raced to the tower where they made it just in time with only 30 minutes left to spare.

"You guy's better go to you respective rooms," Minamo suggested. "It's about to begin,"

"Thank you, Minamo-san!" Sakura said with teary eyes; she bit her lip to keep it from trembling. "Thank you so much!" she cried and bowed. Ino followed bringing Shikamaru and Choji down with her. Naruto clumsily bowed as well and Sasuke followed last with reluctance.

"Get up, you guys," she ordered. They obeyed. "You don't need to thank me. I had fun."

She walked to where Kabuto and Yoroi were waiting as planned but she stopped to wave back at them.

"Good luck!" she shouted, then flashed a 'Thumbs Up' and proceeded into the building.

Inside Orochimaru waited impatiently.

He's been infected?" Orochimaru asked Minamo.

"Yes, the poison seeped into the bloodstream and as long as someone doesn't compress it, it'll be fine," she replied.

"Excellent," the Snake seethed.

"Is everything else in motion?" he asked Kabuto. Kabuto nodded with an evil smirk plastered across his face.

"All that's left is to have the pairs be made in our favor,"

"Then why didn't you sabotage the machine?" Minamo asked. "It can easily be impaired without leaving any trace."

"I'd rather leave up to Fate," Orochimaru snarled and then left the room with an awkward and tense silence.

"Ready?" Kabuto asked, breaking the ice.

"Yeah," Minamo replied.

Their team entered the large room, signaling their victory in passing the Second Exam.

Minamo smiled to herself as she saw all of the Jounins and the Hokage stand before a large statue of a hand seal.

Focusing on the Hokage, she noticed that he was avoiding her gaze, all the other Jounins, however; stared at her with the corners of their eyes.

Hayato appeared before them and announced that he was the proctor of the 3rd Exam preliminaries.

Immediate controversy and erupted after stating that the following event was simply a preliminary.

But when he explained that there were too many to continue, they quieted.

Minamo remembered Hayato being the sickly child and thought it humorous that he grew to be the sickly man.

The examiner told the Genins that if they wanted to leave they could.

She saw Sakura and Ino struggling whether or not to raise their hands in fear of Sasuke's health but they relented when Sasuke gave them both a cold stare.

What surprised her was when the boy in front her raised his hand high in the air and began to leave.

"What are you doing?" Minamo grabbed Kabuto's arm.

"I used up too much charka and my stamina is too low to continue or fight," he smirked. "I might have been able to fight if my whole team was with me,"

Minamo released his arm; she turned to look at the 6 teenagers' reactions. All of whom, except for Sasuke, showed concern.

Turning back to Kabuto, she frowned "I had some kids to take care of,"

Kabuto nodded and left.

Sighing, she returned to her place, giving a short nod to the Hokage, who nodded in return. Soon, all eyes were turned up to a large screen on the wall above.

As the countless names flickered on the screen, Minamo could only hope that Fate would not frown on her or the kids.

"Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi"

"This is bad," Minamo muttered as she walked up onto the platform. "I can't choose a side for this one,"

She stood alone as she watched the battle which was short.

Sasuke beat Yoroi in a matter of minutes and stunned the crowd by suppressing the remains of the seal and showing off the moves that he copied from Maito Gai's student, Rock Lee.

The next battle was between Dosu and Choji and the Akimichi lost without much hesitation. But Minamo was glad that Choji tried his best.

The next was more intimidating as Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand battled gruesomely.

But expectedly Lee was sent to the hospital and Gaara was uninjured except for his pride and a scratch.

"Serves the brat right," she muttered.

Then the short-lived battle between Shikamaru and Kin ensued, where Shikamaru actually used his intellect during a battle. It made Minamo smile with pride.

Then Ino and Sakura fought, leading to the next battle, which ended in a tie.

After seeing both girls knock each other unconscious and being returned to their respective teams, Minamo stared back at the board. For some reason, Minamo couldn't keep still and her heart throbbed as the screen flickered. Each second was stretched as the names fluttered across the screen.

Then it stopped.

"That's not possible," Minamo stared at the screen, her heart missed a beat and all she could do was to stare at the names shown.

"Minamo vs. Uzumaki Naruto"

"No,"

* * *

Yeah, I know it's short but it's all I got right now. But I promise that I'll try to get the next one up within the month. I've got a lot of things going on at school so I don't have much time to write and with this Writer's Block I can't really pull together a chapter quickly.

But thanks for all the support,

Triple Threat


	7. Filler Chapter 2!

You know the drill…

The apology: I broke my promise, my bad

The disclaimer: You think I own the million dollar making anime/manga series? If I did, I wouldn't be writing this fiction

And then the not-so-very-good chapter: Enjoy!

* * *

"This can't be happening," Minamo stuttered as she made her way down to the combat area.

She carefully walked towards Hayato and stopped when she reached him, her son followed suit.

She turned to Naruto, then to the Hokage and then to the ground.

"Are you ready?" Hayato asked before coughing.

Minamo nodded. Naruto just looked to the ground.

"Are you ready?" Hayato repeated, he then threw a fit of coughs.

"Naruto, it'll be alright," Minamo muttered. Naruto stared at Minamo for a second and then at the proctor.

"I'm ready," he said with most serious face he could muster.

Hayato nodded, "Begin!" he shouted.

Before Naruto blinked, Minamo rushed at him.

"I'll tell you this once," she muttered as he ducked just in time. "I'm not going to hold back…at all,"

She threw another punch in his direction but dropped her fist when she saw the still figure of her son. He stared at the ground with dark and downcast eyes.

"Naruto…"

For a moment, Minamo couldn't breathe. Gently staring at her son, she couldn't find the will to fight him.

"I-I can't," Naruto stuttered. "Don't make me do this," he pleaded, stealing the words from Minamo's mouth.

"Neither do I," she said and bit her lip. "But Naruto, you need to prove yourself worthy of being a Chuu-nin. And I know you are,"

She retracted her hand but then returned to a fighting stance. "So come at me with everything you got!"

She lunged again and this time Naruto was ready.

"Kage Bushin-no-jutsu!" he cried and clouds of dust erupted, immersing everything.

Once the dust settled, 7 Narutos appeared surrounding Minamo.

"Naruto, that's a Forbidden Technique, your generation shouldn't even know its existence." She smiled.

All the Narutos tensed, and readied themselves in a stance.

"Oh well, there are ways to diffuse that technique," she jolted her arms and two paper notes appeared from underneath the bandages that were on her forearm. Slapping them together she muttered a single word.

"Namikaze,"

Suddenly millions of papers erupted from her hands. They flew in all directions like hundreds of missiles being shot from a single canon.

All the genin covered their faces as the paper notes shot at them.

"They're wet!" Sakura exclaimed. She had gained consciousness and noticed that the papers were moist when they hit her. A hand suddenly was placed on her shoulder and the papers stopped hitting her.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried, recognizing the owner of the hand. "Why…How…?" she was at a loss of words.

"Simple charka shield," he explained with a hidden smile, "It works like an umbrella, almost,"

"Ah, I see. Is Sasuke alright?" she asked. Kakashi just returned from compressing the remains of the Cursed Seal and an encounter with Orochimaru, and with his sensei's technique literally hitting him in the face, he wished he was dreaming.

"He's at the hospital. He'll be fine,"

Sakura nodded, then scrutinized one of the paper notes that was stuck onto her.

"The seals on these are nearly the same as the one on the kunai," she commented, pulling out the kunai Minamo had given her.

"Sakura, where did you get that?" Kakashi asked, eyeing the oddly-shaped knife in her hand.

"From Minamo-san," Sakura answered, peering down to where the paper notes were flowing from. "She gave it to me as encouragement in the Forest of Death."

"I see," he muttered, then stared down at the dark-haired girl that stood in the middle of the room.

"It's not possible," he thought to himself. "The jutsu she just performed was something one of Sensei's ideas and that kunai is an improved copy of mine, the one that Sensei gave me," he pulled out a rusty kunai from his holster, just barely so that only he could see it.

"You know she acts like Naruto a bit," Sakura continued, "She always smiles and laughs and is so full of energy. But unlike him, she's really patient and thoughtful. And you know what? At the first exam she said what you said during the Survival Training. 'A ninja looks underneath the underneath.' Isn't that weird? And then during the First exam she was peeling an apple…"

"She sounds like an eccentric girl," he replied. "Did she say why she was peeling it?"

"I asked her but all she said was that apples were the best food in the world next to ramen. Isn't she so strange?"

"The best provisions, huh?" he muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, it was just th-!" he couldn't finish his sentence because Naruto came flying down towards them. Sakura screamed preparing herself for impact but nothing hit her.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto apologized from several feet above her, attached to the wall. He bounded off in an instant, throwing several punches at Minamo, but with no success.

"Why are holding back, Naruto?" Minamo asked when she landed gracefully on the ground. Naruto then impacted, breathing heavily as he returned standing.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Don't say that, because if you want to ever become Hokage then you have to win. But if you don't give it your all, that dream will never come true!"

Naruto gave no answer, but his fist clenched and his eyes narrowed.

"I'm going to end this right now, either you win or you lose. It's your choice." She was serious.

Carefully, she unraveled the bandages on her right arm, revealing large burns. She did the same with her other arm which had scars that resembled long cuts.

She crouched to the ground and lifted her arms slightly; she resembled a bird ready to soar into the never-ending sky. She took off into the air and disappeared.

"Over here," she muttered from a far off corner. She disappeared again and appeared again and repeated that until she appeared on the wall that Naruto was facing. She leapt from it.

Suddenly a loud sound filled the rooms, resembling a flock of chirping birds. Minamo's right arm was lit with an orb of blue bolts of lightning, with the Chidori. And a gust of wind was heard and in the palm of her left hand was rotating raw charka, the Rasengan.

Closer and closer, Minamo's deadly attack was to Naruto.

"No," Naruto frowned and shut his eyes tight. When he opened them, blood red eyes replaced his cerulean ones.

Time stopped.

_I remember your scent, your stench. _

_This smell I can never forget the one of the man who sealed me. _

_But now you hold another scent. Something more sinister and bloodthirsty_

_Namikaze Minato_

_Vengeance is now mine…_

Time started again.

"Minamo!," Naruto cried as her eyes lost their focus and finally closed. She fell into his arms.

* * *

"How is she?" the Third asked a masked doctor. Both were currently in the hospital cell where Minamo remained, resting and unconscious for 2 weeks.

"Blood pressure improved and her injuries are all healed. It won't be long until she awakens," the doctor replied, scanning his pad filled with data.

"That's good," the Third smiled from underneath the shadows of his hat. He dismissed the doctor.

A few moments passed and the Third remained at Minamo's bedside, observing her carefully.

She was sweating miserably and made faces so distorted that it was obvious she was having nightmares.

"Stop!" she screamed, rising in her bed. Seeing the Hokage by her side, she grew embarrassed.

"Welcome back," Sarutobi smirked.

"How long was I out?" she asked, caressing her warm temples.

"2 weeks,"

"I see," she sighed and looked down at her sheets.

"My story's probably hard to believe," she stated. He nodded in reply.

"Many do question how you came upon Namikaze's unspoken techniques."

"They weren't techniques at all," she retorted, "Simply ideas that I wanted to turn into techniques. But now they are,"

"What about the Raikiki?" he asked sternly, his voice was solemn but Minamo could sense the tension and sentimentality behind the elder's voice. As Minato, he always could tell when the Sandaime was stressed.

"Was it not Kakashi's original?"

"Yeah," she smiled and turned to him, "He came up with the idea, I just prodded it along,"

"Well, it seems that you have a fairly good memory," Sarutobi smiled. Minamo at first began to smile, but then her sweet smile quickly faded.

"Actually, I don't," she muttered, "Have a good memory, that is,"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, maybe because there's more to the story then what I'm hearing," she said slowly as if the words were given to her by another being. Then her eyes grew firm, "Yes, there is a lot more."

"Excuse me?"

Minamo faced the Hokage, her eyes still firm and the resolve she held in her stare was kept steady.

"There is a lot of the story _you're_ not telling," she accused with a knowing attitude. "A whole lot,"

* * *

"Darn that old man. Forcing me to come all the way to Konoha," a busty blonde grumbled from within the lobby of the hospital. Several citizens peered over in her direction.

"Tsunade, please, not in a public place," her assistant, Shizune insisted clutching an ornamented pink pig in her arms. The pig snorted as if in agreement.

"Eh, so the old man brought the Biggest Loser here as well," a colorless haired man chuckled, striding up to them.

"You're kidding right?" Tsunade sneered in complaint. "Jiraiya's here too?"

"Blame the old man, not me," he smirked.

"I would very appreciate it if you two wouldn't call me 'old man'. It gets very tedious," Sandaime muttered. "You guys still haven't grown up yet," he heaved a heavy sigh. His two students smirked with embarrassment plastered on their faces.

The Hokage chuckled softly, "No matter, follow me please." He gestured to an empty hallway. Tsunade and Shizune stood from their seats to follow.

"Shizune, I think you should stay here," Tsunade suggested, turning back to her assistant. Shizune was about to object but quickly realized that it wasn't her place. She nodded in concurrence.

Shizune sighed as she saw the Hokage and his two students disappear into the shadows of the vacant hallway. She peered down at the pig.

"Should we run away, Ton-Ton?" she asked with a cutely mischievous smile. The pig beamed and nodded recklessly. Within moments, the dynamic duo was off into the streets of Konohagakure.

The other party was led through the hallway for a considerably long time. Tsunade couldn't hold it in, she was not a very patient woman.

"For goodness sake, how long is this freaking tunnel!?" she shouted in fury, nearly pulling out her hair.

"Just as impatient as ever, Tsunade-sama,"

Minamo appeared from the other end of the hallway.

"Ah, Minamo-san, you are able to walk," Sarutobi chuckled, clicking his pipe onto his teeth. It was a habit only the people he was closest to knew.

"Oh, I rejuvenate very quickly. I thought you knew that,"

"Minato-san took a very long time to heal," Sarutobi mentioned, removing his pipe from his mouth.

"That was in my past life," Minamo pouted.

"Hey, you gonna introduce yourself or not, punk?" Tsunade asked, hissing through her teeth. She didn't like being ignored. Jiraiya didn't say anything.

"Sorry," she smiled, "Bad mannerisms on my part," she dipped her head. "I'm Minamo, you could say that I'm the…"

"Reincarnation of Namikaze Minato," Jiraiya finished.

"That's correct," Minamo's smile softened, "Sensei,"

* * *

Reviews make good medicine for writer's block, so review.

Please.

Anyways, I want to thank all the people, who did review, alerted and all that jazz. So thanks.

Also, there were a few questions about the storyline, Minamo's ability, and possible pairings and so on. I'm not very partial to replying to questions because it would be unfair, I think, if I just replied to one guy and not to another. That's my policy but if you're dying to get a response you can email me at tafih.triple.threat (at) live .com (but without the spaces and with the 'at' symbol).

But right now, I think though I should explain a few things.

First off, I'm not an action writer, you probably noticed above that my fighting sequences aren't very good. So I'm probably not going to focus too much on the abilities of the ninjas. So to all the people who questioned about Minamo's abilities and what she can do, just wait a couple chapters. I need some time to shape up.

Secondly, about the relationships between Minamo and other various characters will be revealed later on, although I do have a couple pairings in mind.

Third, I love your suggestions. Gimme Gimme all the suggestions you have, I'll take them all.

Fourth, some suggestions, I take, but won't use. Sorry, it's usually because sometimes the suggestion won't follow the storyline I'm thinking of.

But don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that you guys like this fic, you guys are really awesome. So email me questions but still review on the story.

Thanks for reading,

Triple Threat


	8. Filler Chapter 3!

Meeting Again

Since Finals are coming, I won't have time to write, so I quickly wrote this crappy one.

A bit of fan service but nothing more, count your blessings and enjoy!

* * *

"Are you kidding me? You expect me to believe this kid's your obnoxious blonde-headed loudmouth student?" Tsunade shouted in disbelief, pointing accusingly at Minamo.

"You have obviously have not met Naruto," Minamo muttered.

Jiraiya grinned. "Actually, I don't expect you to believe it, it's your choice,"

He flashed a wink at Minamo.

Tsunade stared at him with mouth open and with utter surprise.

"What's wrong with you? You're usually the tempered one," she frowned, thinking her ears had failed her.

"There's more to Sensei than you know, Tsunade-sama," Minamo added, "But, let's not talk about here. Let us resume inside," she returned to the shadows and a sound that resembled the opening of a large door echoed. There was a bright light and Tsunade and Jiraiya found themselves peering into a room resembling a library.

"It's the Hall of Records," Tsunade said in wonder as she entered the large room.

The Hall of Records wasn't actually a hall; it was a large underground area that connected the Hokage Tower to the hospital and a storeroom of all records in Konohagakure. It was just called a Hall because it sounded euphonically better.

The information rated from records of past missions files to applications for new restaurants, tax returns to political documents that didn't pass by the Council elders, medical insurances to lists of deaths in the hospital and on missions. It carried everything that deals with paper, ink, documents, credentials and papers and other ways more or less.

Fortunately, to keep the Hall of Records neatly kept, the most organized and most trusted ninjas and secretariats (who were mostly female) had been hired to keep the Hall a very structured environment.

As the two Sannin and their sensei sat down at a large rounded table at the head of the room, Minamo pulled out a manila folder out of the bottom drawer a file cabinet that looked as old as the village.

"This is why I asked for you two to come," she said as she held the folder in the air.

The others knew exactly what it was, and said nothing.

* * *

For the two weeks that Minamo had been hospitalized, Naruto made a habit of coming to visit the eccentric girl (sometimes with flowers) after her encounter with the Kyuubi no Kitsune which knocked her unconscious. But when he came to visit on that sunny afternoon, he had learned that she had already awoke and left.

"So I came here for nothing?" he whined, as he slouched in one of the hospital lobby seats.

"Why isn't it Naruto," Kakashi hummed, sitting down besides his unpredictable student.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto nearly sobbed, his eyes were on the verge of crying.

Seeing that his student wasn't in good spirits, the teacher decided to do his good deed for the decade and reluctantly began to make small talk.

"Can I ask why you're here?" the nonchalant teacher started.

Naruto's eyes turned dry in an instant. "Well, I was here to visit Minamo-chan, but the nurses told me she checked out this morning,"

"I had no idea you liked older women," the Hatake asked, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees, "Your sexual preferences surprise me, Naruto,"

Expectedly, Naruto made an expression that satisfied Kakashi extremely.

"Y-you m-mean…Are you talking about M-Mi-Minamo-chan!? I just –well…" the teenager blushed terribly. "Wait, why are you here?" the boy interrogated.

His sensei smiled underneath his mask, "I wanted a couple questions answered." Naruto pouted since his question wasn't necessarily, but said nothing in reply.

"How are you preparing for the Last Exam?" Kakashi asked all of a sudden.

"I'm not, I was preoccupied," was all Naruto answered.

Kakashi frowned, "Naruto, you shouldn't let some girl distract you," he warned. Naruto glared back at him in offense.

"She's not some girl, she's a friend. And wasn't it you Kakashi-sensei who said that people who abandon their friends are worse than trash?"

To that Kakashi had to be proud, "You really matured, Naruto," he commented.

"That's because of her," the boy replied with a smile, referring to Minamo.

"Imbecile, why are you here?" a familiar dark and foreboding voice asked. Naruto turned to glare at a fully healed Sasuke.

"Hey, what gives you the right to call me that, you moron!?" Naruto became his old self as he jumped off the seat and was face to face with Sasuke in a matter of seconds.

"Kakashi-sensei, let's go. I don't want to waste my training time with this nincompoop," Sasuke looked over at his trainer.

"Wait, why are you training him? That's not fair!" Naruto yelled with a accusing finger at Kakashi. "And I'm not a nincompoop, you nincompoop," he muttered through his teeth with an incensed hiss.

Throwing up his hands in self-defense, Kakashi chuckled tensely. "It's for the best, Naruto, but I even took the liberty in getting you another tutor. Oh, here he is right now,"

Now, what Naruto didn't expect was to see Konohamaru's perverted sensei, Ebisu. As a result from their previous encounter, Narutohadn't gotten a good impression of the man and his first instinct was to humiliate the secretive hentai. But before Naruto could proclaim his last encounter with him, Ebisu's hand clasped his mouth shut and whispered a promise of a large amount of ramen. Ebisu didn't want his reputation stained and Naruto just couldn't refuse ramen.

"Why do I have the feeling you two have met? Have you?" Kakashi asked. The two shook their heads in obvious falsehood but the Scarecrow accepted it anyway.

Kakashi accepted most things, like the fact that Sasuke is a complete ignoramus even though he's supposedly a genius, that Naruto need medication at most times in his life, that Sakura needed to see a counselor. But what he could not accept was that some girl had learned or discovered most of his sensei's ideas for new techniques. The thought infuriated him; he almost began to believe that he had become – jealous.

* * *

About 3 hours after Naruto left with Ebisu (though quite reluctantly), probably the most obscure and incomprehensible thing happened. Ebisu was in the middle of showing Naruto how to walk on water like the Son of Man but had found Jiraiyapeeping into a woman's bath and aspired to do the noble thing and stop the old man, even though his real motive was so that he could get a glimpse of naked women himself.

He failed miserably, but since he was put up against Jiraiya, it was obvious about the result.

Naruto was numb with shock from the sight of Ebisu going down by the hands of an old man. Then when the confounding situation got a bit clearer, Minamo showed up and pummeled Jiraiya with no mercy for even going near a women's bath much less peep on one.

Then the poor Naruto had to experience a brawl between the Perverted Sannin and Minamo as they discussed, in most ways argued, about methods to train the Kyuubi holder.

Minamo won, since women always won. Minamo had learned that fact merit to previous clashes with Kushina, his mother and Tsunade.

Jiraiya had wanted for Naruto to effectively tap into Kyuubi's power. Minamo argued against since it wasn't her plan in the first place even though she didn't remember the original plan herself.

After her rendezvous with the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Minamo's memoirs concerning the demon had faded. Every bit of information had disappeared except for the fact that Minatohad sealed it when Naruto's mother gave birth and died soon after. But the girl guessed that her past self wanted to have Naruto fully control the demon before taking chakra from it.

She got her way in the end but had to promise Jiraiya to wear a bathing suit during the training. Jiraiya made no complaint afterwards and neither did Minamo, because she had no cleavage whatsoever, nor curves or anything that would be appealing to a man's erotic desires. It was a wonder to her why Kabuto even made horrible attempts to flirt.

And Unfortunate Jiraiya soon found out this fact no sooner than in an hour after seeing Minamo's impassive and unapproachable looking bathing suit pose and left the training grounds in tears.

After her former teacher had left, Minamo continued Ebisu's suspended training with Naruto on water walking. Since Minamo had a swimsuit on, which was appropriate attire, Naruto thought it best to strip to his boxers. He was never the brightest bulb even if he wore orange, an extremely bright color, every single day.

As Naruto took off his shirt, Minamo couldn't help but turn beat red. With his bulky orange jumpsuit and his inherited obsession with ramen she thought that he would be overweight.

Boy, was she wrong.

She couldn't help but stare at the boy's well-toned chest and muscular arms. His pale skin as the afternoon sun beat relentlessly on it, as if on purpose, with the knowledge that he'd sweat and become even more attractive.

"Why couldn't I have that body at 12? And that Hinata didn't make a bad choice," she mumbled to herself, more blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Minamo, you alright?" he asked. Minamo turned away to blush harder.

"Y-yes, I'm fine," she stammered.

"I guess my physiology of my mind is catching up to my body in becoming a girl," she thought to herself as she instructed the oblivious orange.

After hours of repeating the same subject over and over again to Naruto, the first stars of the night revealed themselves and Minamo called it a day and hoped that Jiraiya would take over the next morning.

* * *

As she was returning to the hospital, where she had a rented apartment since the Third was still uncertain about her health and wouldn't let her leave the infirmary, a hand grabbed her and pulled her into a thicket of trees.

Minamo was about to counter with a sharpened kunai but then put it back into her holster at the familiar face.

It was Kabuto.

"Abu-chi, don't freak me out like that," she scolded, trying to get out of his grip. He held fast.

"I've been found out," Kabuto said quietly. His eyes and aura were really intense and threw Minamo off for a bit.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean that Sharingan Kakashi had found out that I was working for Orochimaru,"

"Are you serious?" Minamo nearly shouted, "Damn, that kid got good," she thought, referring to the scarecrow of a boy now man.

"Yeah, so I want you to be careful now," his grip on her arm tightened but remained as gentle as possible. "They probably suspect you,"

"I'll be fine, Abu-chi," she smirked, "I gained their trust,"

"There you go again," he sighed. "You have to stop taking things so lightly,"

"Since when did you care?" She already knew that answer, "Why are you such a worry-wart?"

"Usually I'm not, but you make me worry."

Minamo heaved a sigh and turned to face him, "You are impossible to figure out," she accused, "I can't comprehend anything you s-!"

She was interrupted by a forceful kiss.

Unlike in typical first kiss scenarios, there was no magic, no tingle, no stomach lurch; it was just lips on lips. But there was a cold shudder that went up Minamo's spine.

Minamo could feel blood rushing to her face for the second time that day as she forced him off of her. "What was that!?"

He stammered, "It was a kiss,"

"I know what it was, but what was it for!?" this time she shouted.

"You're not okay with it?" he asked stupidly, even though he's fairly brilliant.

"Of course I'm not okay with it! What made you think I did?" she slapped her forehead in dumbfounded confusion. "Wait, don't answer that. This is why some ninjas never find a partner,"

With that sharp comment, she gave him a sharp glare and returned to her walk to the hospital.

But on the way, she couldn't help but regret her words. "But I'm a guy for God's sake,"

"Not technically," a voice came from above. For a split second, Minamo was worried if it was the Lord.

Thankfully, it was only Jiraiya.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are, in fact, female and theoretically, only given part of Minato's memories. But it's most likely that those memories had overtaken your body's original psyche. So you are fully and completely female and it's completely normal for you to be attracted to the opposite sex,"

"I thought you wrote voyeurism not reincarnation suppositions or teenager proximity theories,"

"Is that a trick question?" Jiraiya winked and came down from his perch in some haphazard tree.

"No, it's a stupid question for a stupid, senile old pervert,"

* * *

Like the kiss?? Don't answer that!

That's all folks. In about a month or two the next chappie will be up.

And I'm **so happy** that you guys alert and favorite and all that encouraging stuff, but there aren't many reviews!

But I don't expect too many reviews on this one so it's alright.

I don't own Naruto, which is self-evident and I don't see what the point is in disclaiming it because if the owner wrote fanfiction, it wouldn't be considered as fanfiction, it would be canon so what's the point? Seriously...

Triple Threat


	9. A Closing Deal

I don't own Naruto.

Ah! I think I'm turning Minamo into a Mary Sue! Now I have to concentrate to make sure it doesn't happen. And I have 50 reviews! Yeah! And a lot of people who are alerting! You guys make me SO HAPPY!!

* * *

A Closing Deal

* * *

Naruto's chakra control was improving greatly. And it wasn't just because he had both Jiraiya and Minamo lending him a hand, but also because Minamo had forced Hyuuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino into helping the poor tortured soul.

Minamo chose Hinata to teach Naruto because Hyuugas are required to have ultimate knowledge pertaining to chakra and nerve points—_exactly_ what Naruto needed to prepare for the Chuunin Exams. Plus he was sparring against Hyuuga Neji, so it gives an advantage. And the fact that she was just too adorable, Minamo knew she _had_ to take her.

The Hyuuga, of course was uncertain at first, but relented in the end thanks to Minamo's excellent persuasion skills (mostly on-the-ground begging and whimpering for help).

Minamo also wanted Ino to tutor Naruto on chakra control because Yamanakas were known for their mind control techniques and in order to perform such a feat, one must have incredible chakra control. Ino possessed that. It was more than a good enough reason. And even though it was hard to grab her and even harder to convince her to do the job, Ino helped out in the end, once again thanks to Minamo's amazing persuasion skills.

The hardest problem after convincing the two girls to comply with Minamo's wishes was placating Sakura because she got lividly angry as soon as she heard that Ino was chosen above herself. She threw a fit, cried a bit, but was finally calmed when Minamo mentioned that it was the task of tutoring _Naruto_, and spending time with _Naruto_.

Sakura was instantly comforted and ended with a "Gosh, I feel sorry for you, Ino-pig!"

(Sakura's frustration must have been contagious, because Ino and Naruto suddenly had steam fuming from their innards.)

A week flew past and Naruto was getting stronger and more determined by the second. He mastered the Summoning technique, to Minamo's surprise, and earned the respect of Gamabunta thanks to Jiraiya forcing Naruto to use the Kyuubi chakra without her permission. Minamo forgave the hermit after she pushed him off a cliff and learned that Naruto struck a deal with the tailed fox, allowing him to somewhat control the demon.

After that certain predicament, Minamo found herself observing Hinata and Ino training Naruto from a distance. Hinata was stuttering through her explanations. And Ino was repeating what Hinata said but in a louder, more frightening tone. The Yamanaka was surprisingly patient with Naruto, except for the instances where she hit him hard on the head, which were pretty often.

But despite all of that, Naruto learned. And they all, Minamo could tell, were having fun.

"You could never find that at Orochimaru's place. There's too much happiness," she grinned. "That's enough you guys!" she called out to them, "Let's grab something to eat; it's my treat,"

The genin smiled as they all ran up to her, eager to receive a well-earned meal.

After dinner, Minamo walked towards the hospital with a gloomy aura emitting from her slouching body.

"Why does he eat so much?" Minamo sighed as she passed frightened pedestrians and peered into her wallet which was empty credit to Naruto's enormous hunger. "Neither of his parents ever had such an appetite," she muttered.

"Minamo-sama," a stern voice interrupted her moment of misery.

"Yes?" she asked when she turned.

It was an ANBU agent.

"The Third has requested for your presence," he informed from behind his tiger mask. Minamo raised a brow.

"Why didn't he send one of his assistants to get me?" she asked.

"It's pretty important," the ANBU replied, purposefully disregarding formalities and rather impatiently. Minamo nodded, getting his drift and followed him to a conference room in the Hokage Tower.

Inside, one Hokage, two of the Legendary San-nin, two of the Council Elders and all of Konoha's most trusted elite all waited impatiently- for her.

"I believe you were previously informed about this gathering, were you not?" Mitokado, the male Council elder asked, rebuking her tardiness.

Minamo nervously laughed as her lips twitched into a smile, "I hope you believe me when I say that: I forgot,"

Sarutobi and a few haphazard ninjas smirked as the elders scowled while Minamo crawled nervously to the center of the room and the center of everyone's attention.

"Friends," Sarutobi began, taking out his pipe from his mouth, "Thanks to this young woman here, we were informed about an upcoming attack which shall be made by none other than Orochimaru. And regrettably, our former ally, the Sand, is fighting alongside him."

Tension fluttered around the room, making Minamo's stomach churn.

The Third turned to Minamo, "For the next hour, you will be briefed on confidential information. This information is not to be heard by ears that are not associated with this mission, nor shall it be told by any of you here. Is that clear?"

The ninjas called to attention and stated their avowals. While they all stood, Minamo got to take a good look at them. Many were children Minato had known, now all grown; some were completely foreign to him. But all of them looked honest and trustworthy shinobi, even though their eyes were arctic, firm and emotionless.

The Sandaime then handed the floor to Minamo, who gulped under the sudden pressure.

"Before I report the enemy strategies, I thought it would be best to answer a few obvious questions many of you want to ask," Minamo began, "As some of you witnessed or heard, I performed the Raikiki as well as the Rasengan during the Chuunin Exams."

People began to search for Kakashi to ogle at, but he was absent, thankfully for Minamo. She coughed dramatically to get their attention back.

"I was able to perform these techniques because I was granted the memories of Namikaze Minato, your former Fourth Hokage. With these memories I was able to execute those certain techniques, knowing it would capture your interest for my cause. Since it succeeded, I humbly ask for your cooperation," she bowed low to her audience.

Encouraged by the lack of response, Minamo began in revealing part of the plans that Orochimaru took years to prepare, at the same time trying not to stutter. After the briefing ended, Sarutobi dismissed the crowd and left with the elders soon after to discuss more needed actions.

Minamo sighed in relief as she collapsed onto a nearby desk. Jiraiya sauntered up to her in full-bellied laughs and gave her a comforting pat on the back.

"I kept saying 'ah' and 'uh'!" Minamo grumbled, "I'm horrible at giving speeches!"

"Minato was good at them," he commented. Tsunade kicked him in the buttocks.

"Leave the kid alone," she sneered as he rolled on the ground, yelping in pain. Minamo chuckled and thanked her.

"I feel really stupid," Minamo sighed, "And not just because I fail at oral speaking but because it took me so long to realize that I'm actually…" Minamo paused.

Tsunade tossed her a look, "Actually what?"

Tsunade's frown grew more intense as Minamo looked as I she was hiding something.

"Nothing," Minamo said after a quick moment of thought. "That reminds me," she turned to Jiraiya, "You get to train Naruto tonight!"

His face turned from pain to pitiful. "But I thought it was your turn," he glowered. She shook her head with a proud smile.

"You do know that the match is two days from now," Jiraiya muttered, standing and brushing off imaginary dust from his garments.

"I know," she smirked, "But I'm busy, so you need to prepare him. And make sure he gets enough sleep!"

"Where are you going?" he asked. But he seemed to already know.

"Soul-searching!" she called as she left the room, leaving Tsunade very bewildered.

* * *

And mad.

"Soul-searching!" Tsunade spluttered as she began walking around in an angry fit, "Who does she think she is!? She has no right to thoroughly piss me off! And no one can _thoroughly_ piss me off! Argh!" she growled, trying to make her statement more irritating. Jiraiya feigned concurrence, but was really trying to restrain his bubbling laughter.

"Seriously, and the attack starts in less than two days, what is that girl thinking!?"

"Tsunade, she's doing us a favor," Jiraiya muttered, hoping that it was soft enough that Tsunade wouldn't be able to hear him.

Her ears perked and she swerved on her heels to bore cold stares into him. She heard him.

He mentally cursed before thinking of a quick explanation. "It's not like she had a choice. Look, you and I both know that the spiritual realm is not our strong point; it was the Old Man's and Minato's. But I do know enough to know that Minamo probably won't be able to help us in her current condition. And we need her in peak shape since the information she relayed wasn't everything that Orochimaru had in store. He's not that stupid to give up all the loopholes to some teenage girl. We, of all people, should know that."

"But what do you mean she won't be helpful in her current condition?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

He scratched his chin in question, "You could say it's like an _Expiration Date_,"

"…Expiration Date?"

"Yeah, right now is probably the expiration date on her body. I've been noticing that she hasn't been using any ninjutsu, so I thought she just didn't want to be confronted by Orochimaru and his lackeys,"

"So, anyone would do that! It doesn't mean that she isn't able to use ninjutsu at all," Tsunade commented, rolling her eyes like a teenager.

"But she hasn't been avoiding them," Jiraiya pointed out, "She goes and meets with the Snake almost every night and gives information to him. So then why wouldn't she use any techniques, ninjutsu _or_ taijutsu of she wasn't avoiding the Sound?"

To that Tsunade didn't answer, although she probably knew what to say. She already knew that Minamo's physical stamina had lessened from the state it was in when the girl arrived. And if what Jiraiya had said about supernatural forces playing into it, then the success of any counterattack that the Village would make is firmly dependant on the vigor of a hormone-raving 18-year-old girl.

Tsunade didn't like that fact. Was it really possible for so many things to rely on a teenager? More or less a female teenager?

In Tsunade's mind it was very impractical and sounded like a bunch of rotten taiyaki dipped in Pocari Sweat. But a slight part of her mentioned that everything could, in fact, be true. That is, if the hormone-raving, flat-chest, over-dramatic, mood-swinging, lackadaisical and boastful being one would call a teenage girl, was something granted from up above.

Or from below.

Meanwhile, Minamo huffed as she made her way up a large, rocky hill that stood at the outskirts of town. She could feel her heart beat erratically and her muscles throbbed in pain. It was worse than the muscle ache she received when first arriving to Konoha.

Something slipped underneath her and her ankle gave way, making her body twist as she landed square on her back. Her mouth started to feel very dry and she tried to gather saliva to keep it moist; it wasn't very productive. Then with a sudden surge of available energy, Minamo grabbed her sore arm, lifted herself off of the gravel and the woodland brush and started up the hill once again.

As soon as she reached the top, she leaned onto a nearby tree and slid down the bark until she was sitting on the scarce blades of grass. Looking up she could see the figures of the Village's founders shaped into the Hokage Mountain.

"I'm sorry, Yondaime, Sarutobi," Minamo voiced, gazing at their carved likenesses, as her vision was slowly enveloped by darkness.

"Are you sure you want this?" a dark voice asked from behind. Minamo turned to face the menacing figure of the Shinigami. Minamo took a deep breath and stated her answer firmly.

"Yes, give me your eyes,"

* * *

I just love cliffhangers, don't you?! (Even though it wasn't much of one and you could probably guess what's about to happen...)

Sorry for making it really short, but I think I did better on this one than most of my other chapters.

And I just have to reiterate that I've been getting a lot of alerting, YEAH! It makes me so happy and ecstatic, and what you guys say is really sweet so I thank you!

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Next one will come soon I promise! (Reviews help me write faster!)

And if you don't know, Taiyaki is a hot cake in the shape of a fish and Pocari Sweat is a sweet energy drink, both are Japanese and are pretty good.


	10. Release

I don't own Naruto.

I'm sorry! I lied! I did have most of the chapter done when I updated last but I never got the chance to finish. High school's killing me.

Anyway, Once Again is coming to an end; there will probably be one more chapter to this. You guys are best, continue to support me!!!! I'll apologize beforehand if the story didn't turn out the way it was supposed to.

But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

By the way, the chapter sounds better if you read it aloud and it's rated T for some foul language for some reason threw in here.

* * *

Minamo was silent as an image flickered before her. It was the same feeling you get from staring at the mirror and not knowing who your reflection is.

But in this instance, Minamo really had no idea who she was staring at. Since it _was _a whole other person.

Despite the fact that it was the same exact body she possessed, there were so many little nuances gave the difference away. Like her demonic red eyes and her evil smirk and other things that Minamo just didn't have, like a bust.

"Who are you?" Minamo finally asked after a long look at her other self.

"You, of course, who else would I be?" her voice was sinister and soothing, like the sweet liquid of a Venus fly trap. It was enticing and deadly.

"You're wrong, you're not me,"

"But he's not either," she pointed her. A translucent image of Namikaze Minato came into view, wearing a sad and empty face. "So—who are you?"

Minamo, unable to answer, felt her face cringe and she looked down as inhaled nervously. She forgot how long she had been in the darkness. After finally closing the deal by accepting the help of the death god, the Shinigami disappeared and her other self took his place.

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked for the eyes," Minamo thought to herself. "But what else can I do? The success of the counterattack depends on me and how I deal with Orochimaru. Damn it, I don't even know where he'll be during the Battles! Why did it have to turn out like this!? But then again, I can't see- I won't see Konoha fall. And plus, my body wouldn't survive at all if I didn't make the deal," she gazed at her transparent hand.

"I can't believe you went through all these trouble," the other Minamo started,"…just to put me back into this worthless body," she scoffed while taking a good look at herself.

"Shut up, demon," Minamo seethed, her fists clenched. The other self chuckled.

"O-ho-ho, so you do know who I am. Then why'd you ask before?"

Minamo snarled. Who would have thought that her previous life was actually a human body possessed by a demon, not the life of Minato? Minamo didn't like it at all, and plus, the demoness was sarcastic and crude.

"Stop being impatient, you ninny, I'll be out soon to grant your idiotic wishes," the demon smirked.

Minamo glared, "You better not kill anyone! Or hurt anyone I kno-!"

"And who says I can't? As soon as I'm on solid ground, in your body, I can do whatever I please. That is, as long as I kill that Orochimaru,"

"B-BUT WE MADE A DEAL! That's the whole reason why-- my soul-!"

"The reason why you sold your soul to my master, right? You're so stupid," she slowly slurred, "Who in their right mind would sell their soul to the devil and still think that they have a say in the matter? You're not very good at making deals," she smiled.

Minamo was near to tears. She was caught, trapped, jailed and with no way to escape the prison she built for herself.

A week earlier, the Shinigami had revealed a way that would allow Minamo to have a hearty body that would be able to assist Konoha's counterattack. But there was a cost.

If Minamo agreed to it, by asking for the death god's eyes and insight, the Shinigami would allow her former self take over the body and renew it and in exchange her soul.

Which would be at the hands of the lord of hell, the devil.

Like what everyone else believed, Minamo thought that the spirit of the Yondaime would surmount her body. But instead it was her body's previous owner, a blood-thirsty goblin whose power made the tailed beasts look like tame petting zoo animals. And they were, to her at least.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll finish those other obligations you asked for," the demon snickered, "But then after that, I get to terminate anyone who wronged me,"

At those words, Minamo was overcome with trembling and began to hyperventilate. She clutched her throbbing throat but before she collapsed, she turned to glare at the god of death and mutter: "You knew!"

And then, her other half was freed.

* * *

Over at the Konohagakure Arena, Hinata sat amongst the crowd, fiddling with her fingers and taking deep, long breaths.

She was scared, and she had no idea why.

At first, she thought that her worry was caused by her anxiety for Naruto's success. But that wasn't the case, because as soon as Genma announced him as the victor, the pain and the concern increased.

It wasn't until she was whiter than snow and Akamaru barked relentlessly, that Kiba noticed her condition. (Which isn't too surprising since Inuzuka was just as oblivious as our beloved Naruto is.)

"I think I need to lie down," Hinata muttered deftly. Kiba nodded and he began to escort her to the back.

There Ino ran into them.

"Hinata!" she called. "So this is where you were," Ino smiled, "Chouji and Sakura are just over there," she pointed behind her. "I left because Chouji was making a mess with his snacks and Sakura was being all gloomy and depressed. Geez."

Hinata uttered a small laugh. Ino looked down to the arena to where Naruto was.

"Our Naruto did pretty well, right?" she asked Hinata, then she frowned, "Unlike that idiot Shikamaru, what was he thinking!? Quitting like that, the stupid dork," she cringed.

Hinata nodded while struggling to hold onto Kiba.

"You alright?" she finally asked, noting Hinata's pale features and her trembling legs.

She reached out an arm to support the other half of Hinata's body. She gladly took it. Then together, Kiba and Ino set Hinata down at the back.

An ANBU quickly made his way to them and offered his assistance, which Hinata eagerly accepted. Seeing that Hinata should rest, Ino offered to get a blanket from the Lobby downstairs.

"No, the ground should be fine. We need to hurry if we don't want her to be in harm," the ANBU said, laying her down.

Ino and Kiba turned edgy as the ANBU examined Hinata. After a few moments, Hinata was soon fast asleep and Kiba sighed in relief seeing color returning to his teammate's face.

But Ino grew suspicious.

"What did you do?" she asked the ANBU, placing her hands on her hips.

"After a quick rest, she should be well enough to walk," he said, ignoring her question.

Ino began to fume.

"I'm not asking about her condition, because I know she's unconscious, I'm asking about what you did to her to make her unconscious."

Before Ino could even blink or ask another question, the ANBU attacked, striking Ino in the gut, making her fall and quickly subdued Kiba and Akamaru likewise.

Kabuto, disguised as an ANBU corp. turned around to make sure that no one caught him in the act. And he smiled when he saw no one in the audience took notice of him. It was a lucky coincidence that everyone was too busy cheering at Sasuke's flashy entrance. But it wasn't lucky that someone _did_ see him.

"You know, I actually liked those girls too,"

Kabuto turned to face a cloaked figure, whose features were hidden by a dark hood.

But at one glance, he could tell it was Minamo.

"Where the hell were you, Minamo? You weren't at the rendezvous point," Kabuto asked, taking off his ANBU mask.

"Of course I wouldn't be there, after all I am betraying you," she smiled.

"Minamo, you idiot," Kabuto frowned and was about to charge when something grabbed his arm.

Shocked, Kabuto quickly turned to stare at what caught him, and his eyes turned cold at the sight. A thick, black vine appeared from the wall behind him and wrapped itself around his arm and as Kabuto struggled with it, another appeared and another. He tried harder to resist but his energy and strength suddenly depleted. Soon enough, his body was dragged and pinned to the wall with demonic chains of ivy and the audience had disappeared from his eyes. He was completely captured and immobile.

"Surprised?" she grinned.

"No one can subdue me that easily! Not even Minamo!" he thought aloud, trying to free himself.

The figure smiled as she sauntered up to him.

"I'm not Minamo," she commented, placing a hand on the wall besides the vines and leaning on it. "I'm Hisaki," she whispered into his ear, "Jigoku no Hisaki, the Flame of Hell,"

"Just so you know-- I'm the reason why you were attracted to Minamo-chan," the demon began, "For some strange reason, you're attracted to people with sin bubbling in their soul," she whispered into his ear, making him shiver before the vines cracked his neck and he fell lifeless. "I like that about you,"

Hisaki snickered and then her eyes suddenly grew wide and she backed away from the Kabuto's comatose body.

"You really can't let me kill anyone, can you!?" she screamed seizing her chest, "Damn you! No one can see anyway with the frick'n genjutsu on! He's not even dead!"

After a few moments, Hisaki collected herself and the illusion disappeared only leaving behind a limp body.

She turned to face the backs of the spectators as they immersed themselves into the match between Sasuke and Gaara.

Hisaki couldn't help but leer as she saw the engrossed audience. They were completely ignorant to her arrival, but now she was going to make herself known. With a flick of her fingers, she transported the bodies of the Genin and Kabuto. Then slowly made her way to a spot where she could see the sparring grounds.

As soon as she saw Gaara, her eyes suddenly filled with ecstasy, turning a darker red than her own blood red pupils which vibrated dangerously.

"My kittens," she muttered madly, "Your mommy's returned!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Sakura and Chouji were cheering and eating several aisles away. After taking a big breath after screaming her joy at Sasuke's performance, she glanced at the empty spot besides her.

"Where's Ino?" Sakura asked, as she looked to and fro. Chouji shrugged and kept on eating.

"She's hasn't come back," Sakura bit her finger, showing concern, while at the same time, glancing down at Sasuke.

"Ino will be fine, Sakura-san," Lee said walking up to them with a pair of crutches and a smile. Then he flashed an encouraging and generic 'thumbs up' with the hand that wasn't injured. "I am certain,"

Sakura smiled weakly as thanks while Gai helped Lee down the stairs.

Kakashi was right behind the Dynamic Duo, "Rock Lee's right, there's no need to worry. I just saw her with Hinata," he casually lied.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's eyes lit up, "Is Sasuke's mar-"

Suddenly the whole arena was filled with the sound of chirping birds, the calling card of the Chidori. The group watched with wide eyes as Sasuke ignited the technique.

Ino was forgotten.

But before Sasuke's lightning could strike, a crash of thunder beat him to it. Everyone looked up to see a cloudless sky and feathers.

Fluttering down from a non-existent source, the feathers became the only objects of focus for the audience. And soon enough, everyone drifted off to sleep except for the ninjas, who immediately displaced the jutsu, the demoness that brought the shower of sleep, and the captured Hokage forced to a reunion with an old student.

Thunder still roared.

* * *

With the people around her dropping like stones, all Hisaki could do and would do was laugh maniacally.

"I forgot how fun this was!" she screamed.

Another blow of thunder sounded and this time it was accompanied by its colleagues. Great dark clouds loomed over the arena and flashes of lightening sparked. It was an evil sight indeed.

Temari and Kankuro dashed over to Gaara's broken state while Sasuke released the Chidori and tried to interpret what was happening around him.

As the older Sand siblings lifted Gaara onto their shoulders, a cackling Hisaki appeared before them in a sudden gust of air.

"Traitor!" Temari spat at her, guessing that she was the cause of everything, which she was.

Hisaki ended her line of laughs with a sharp caw.

"Temari- I thought you were smarter than that," the woman dropped her messy hair so that it covered her eyes, a wicked chuckle emerging from her throat.

At that moment, Temari guessed, no, she knew, that Minamo had been replaced with someone who drifted around the thin line that separated reason from insanity.

Hisaki let out another cackle, "How could I be a traitor when I wasn't even on your side to begin with!?" Hisaki unveiled her eyes with a sudden movement, revealing her dark, intense eyes.

"Quick, we have to get out of here," Temari whispered to her brother, her eyes locked with Hisaki's deadly gaze.

"You're not going anywhere—well, not like this,"

By impulse, the siblings inched away from her and caught a glimpse of the darkle sky. Even though they were trained to keep their emotions at a standstill, they couldn't help but stare agape and mouth open at the sight.

The grey depressing clouds converted into billows of dark murderous red and the blood-colored bolts of lightning didn't make the image any brighter either.

Anyone could tell that the storm wasn't natural, since the thunder and the lightning flashed simultaneously and spontaneously. After all no scientific explanation could be given for the supernatural.

* * *

The shinobi stationed on the borders turned to watch the sight. The clouds started to envelop the arena immersing everything in black and red until the only thing that could be seen of the stadium were its ground level doors.

"What the-, this wasn't part of the plan," one of the border guards uttered in complete shock.

His partner grabbed his arm, "Don't worry about that! Look at _that!_" and pointed at the looming figure above them.

Orochimaru had begun his attack.

"Don't let it even near the wall!" Ibiki ordered as his subordinates charged at the over-sized two-headed snake and its Sound-nin and Sand-nin companions.

"This is worse than I thought," Ibiki thought to himself as he attacked a sound-nin, his overcoat flapping around him like wings of a hawk. "Minamo did say that Sand had betrayed Konoha but I didn't think they would give their undying loyalty."

The Sand ninjas outnumbered the Sound by two-fold, and fighting the fiercest. And even though the Konoha nin had a good number and gave a good fight, they were still hesitant about being aggressive towards to their former allies.

"But then again, nowadays everyone's assumptions are going awry," he said aloud, stabbing his opponent in the gut. He had no idea how right he was.

"The snake's coming down!" someone screamed from the heat of the battle. Ibiki immediately turned to where the large snake, trapped with stinging chakra strings, began to fall.

"Kill it!" Ibiki ordered, "I don't want it to move a single muscle!"

The ninjas surrounding him instantly stopped what they were doing and hurled kunai at the fallen reptile. Once struck, the serpent's heads screamed in pain then laid to rest at the foot of the boundary.

"Damn it!" a Sound cursed, "Team A4 retreat! Team B2 Diver-!"

Ibiki removed his fist from the ninja's stomach, "You scum don't deserve to attack this village," the examiner muttered with fierce pride. He impassively slit the man's neck and turned to his men behind him.

"Send the signal!" he commanded, "We begin the counterattack!"

"Yessir!" a messenger at his post ran into a watch tower and let loose several hawks into the air, all of them with red tags on their claws.

The messenger watched the birds fly over Konohagakure before returning to defend his village. One hawk flew straight into the clouds above the stadium and came back out dead.

* * *

"Minamo" Sasuke ran up to Hisaki, "What the hell's going on?"

"Everything's fine, dear-y," Hisaki chuckled in response.

"Get away from her, Kid!" Kankuro called out with mustered will, "She's wrong in the head!"

Sasuke shot him a look but then his sensei and the other jou-nin appeared before him, making a defensive line between Hisaki and the teens.

"You should listen to him, Sasuke," Kakashi said with a stoic voice, "She's dangerous."

At first Sasuke was about to object but then saw Hisaki's transforming figure and backed up a few paces.

All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning was falling close to where they stood, but then Hisaki stretched her hand out and the lightning diverted to reach her and envelop her open palm. Her fingernails grew considerably and wings tore out from her back as the dark lightning surrounded her body.

Hatake, completely unaltered by the transformation, looked over his shoulder to gaze at the siblings.

"We were just issued to counter your assault, but considering the circumstances we will fight alongside you against this person," he said to them, "Because of she did and what she's going to do, she is our common enemy,"

Temari and Kankuro nodded in tacit agreement. Kakashi nodded back and turned back to the demoness.

"Thank goodness you guys came," Genma approached them and joined them in line, "I was getting worried,"

"But I want an explanation later," Shino commented, also standing besides his fellow ninjas.

"I think we all do," Sakura said, joining as they all glared with fighting spirit at the antagonist, ready to come to blows.

Hisaki stared at the ninja for a moment with her bloody eyes then started to chuckle then her chuckling turned into loud and hysterical laughing. She lifted into the air and she let out another reprehensible cackle that shook the ground before flying upwards

"You ninja think you're capable of thinking 99 steps ahead. Too bad you're still 1 step behind," she called out to them. Then she sighed, "I have no time for you but I think I can let you play with my kittens to make you busy," she said lifting her open hands into the air making the storm roar.

"Go!" Kakashi ordered and the ninja rushed at her. But then two figures unexpectedly materialized before them.

"Naruto!" Kakashi uttered in surprise, keeling back.

"Gaara!" Temari called, shocked to see him out of her grip.

"You will fight _us_," the two jinchuriki said, their voices harsh and wicked. Both were practically floating in the air, towering over their stunned friends. Their bodies were enclosed with dark-colored chakra and their eyes were dilated and red. Their hands began to form claws and large tails were formed with the energy surrounding them.

"Have fun my kittens!" Hisaki called before flying up towards her real adversaries.

Kakashi glowered as he stared at his possessed student, "Damn it."

* * *

Yeah! One more chapter to go! And maybe even an Epilogue!

Wow, I never thought I would get this far. I usually don't finish what I start.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed it and I'm sorry if there was anything that you didn't like.

P.S. I need a beta-reader, fast.

Tafih


	11. Once Again

My holiday gift to you...enjoy!

* * *

"Sensei!" Sakura screamed, reaching for the person who was closest to her as Gaara charged at her with a gruesome speed. Kakashi immediately pulled her away from harm and tried to land a kick. But Gaara swiftly evaded, pushing back on the thick air and right into the rickety wooden arms of his brother's puppet.

"GAA-RA!" Kankuro yelled, pulling hard on his dexterous marionette strings and drawing his brother closer to him.

Then Naruto sprung from Kankuro's blind spot, gathering the strings around his arm and in his fiery grip in a single swift movement. Flinging Gaara from the puppet's entrapment towards an awaiting Genma, he bludgeoned the puppet into Kankuro's side. Before the Sand-nin could reach the ground, Naruto heeled into Kankuro's chest while searing the strings from his fingers.

Kankuro screamed in pain as his body hit the ground, rolling over to his unhurt side. Naruto landed firmly on the ground a yard away, making the dust rise as the puppet string fell in a heap besides him. His head turned towards the ninjas encircling Gaara and was about to take off.

"Oi! Dobe!" an angered voice yelled from above.

Naruto quickly looked up to see Sasuke and his lightning-enveloped hand. Instinctively he jumped back as Sasuke slashed, then proceeded to dodge all the other attempts that the Uchiha made to connect lightning to skin.

Sasuke lunged, aiming for his friend's face. But Naruto leaned backwards, propelling his body into a backwards flip, eluding the attack yet again while kicking Sasuke's chidori up into the air with the momentum. Landing quickly, Naruto rushed forward, pointing at Sasuke's stomach. And before any contact was made, Sasuke felt his guts twist and he was flung back due to an immense surge of chakra and slammed right into the wall of the arena. He fell with a groan.

As Naruto was about to stand, slabs of earth suddenly rose, ensnaring him.

"That should hold you," Kakashi spoke as he placed a hand on top of the boy's blonde locks. Naruto's dark red chakra slowly dissipated and the rock crumbled around him, his sensei's hand still firmly placed on his head, preparing to strike the Fourth's son.

"Forgive me, Sensei," Kakashi thought aloud, raising his hand.

"Wait," Naruto's normal voice whispered, causing his sensei to pause. But then the Kyuubi chakra reappeared. A burning sensation surged through Kakashi's hand, making him retract and swear. But before the Copycat Ninja could process anything else, he was hit by a mass of water.

The horrible thunder still continued, casting darkness over everything it consumed.

"_Drip Drop Drip Drop,_" the wet area sang. And bodies, panting or immobile, littered the ground and the roof.

Hisaki had succeeded in disrupting the battle between student and teacher, breaking the force-field that allowed the large masses of water contained within it to pour out into the arena below.

The four Sound-ninjas, who had upheld the force-field, laid sprawled and sodden over the clay roof tilings with 3 ANBU bystanders. The ten ninjas, down in the combat area, struggled to rise from the sudden wave of water that crashed down from above.

Orochimaru was dead; his body and soul ripped in pieces on the rooftop of the arena and Sarutobi was about to join his student in the afterlife.

Hisaki tightened her grip on the Hokage's throat, "You knew all along that I was Minamo. You knew and yet you didn't mutter a word. She was blindly following the trail of bread you left for her. And you were going to kill her after all of this was over." she paused to constrict more, "You're pathetic,"

She smiled as the Third tried to tear away from her grip and then looked over her shoulder to glance at the bloody corpse of Orochimaru, "But not as pathetic as he is," she muttered.

Turning back to her prey, "You're going to have to die too," Hisaki spat, "It's what Fate commands. Even though fate's not predestined, we Under-dwellers like having things go as planned," she began to focus her energy and prepared for the final blow. Sarutobi clawed at her strengthening hand, trying to grasp a final breath.

She laughed; the feeling of omnipotence filled her. All around her was the destruction that only she could accomplish and she believed she could do then some. She nearly had finished her goal.

And as she was about to finish the Hokage off a force rammed into her arm. Time slowed as Hisaki saw the Kyuubi-infused Naruto break her grip on Sarutobi with smirk so condescending.

"Traitor!" she screamed, once time was set back into motion, "You dare upset your mistress!?"

The demon stared at the grinning nine tails, "Explain to me, Kyuubi. The meaning of this," she demanded while stalking towards him, noticing the Shukaku limp in the boy's arms.

"I don't need to explain to _you_," was the reply.

Hisaki flared with a terrible jolt, "What blasphemy is this!" she screamed, "I am your_ mistress_. You MUST obey me,"

The Kyuubi flared back with a snarl, "Don't speak about blasphemy to me, lesser demon. I only obey my true mistress," he growled, setting down the One-tailed beast behind him.

"Fiend! You dare call me not your mistress! You even crouch so low to call me lesser!"

"But you are lesser…lesser than all of us, Jigoku no Hisaki."

The demoness scowled, "Says who?" and turned to the owner of the voice and laughed, "_You_!?"

Minamo looked back at the goblin while holding Sarutobi's wilting head in her hands, and with a proud and confident glare.

"Yes, me,"

Hisaki cackled vociferously before turning back to face the demon fox, "A simple apparition cannot fool me, Nine Tails. That girl's soul's with our lord,"

"This is why you are lesser," the Kyuubi muttered as Hisaki's laughter died down, "You are a disgrace to the Underlord, turning a blind eye to the evident,"

"And not noticing this," Minamo held up a sutra with the slight touch of her fingers.

Hisaki drew out a skeptical face, "What would a simple sutra do?"

"Allow my soul to stay with whomever allows it," Minamo answered letting go of the thin piece of parchment as it dissolved into the black, its letters remaining in the air.

Hisaki's eyes minimized as she watched the characters float over to Naruto's open hand then dissipate in a flash.

"Which would be me," the demon spoke with so much assurance that Hisaki began to doubt.

"And why would you allow her to remain?" she asked, "Was it not you who desired revenge against the man who sealed you?"

The Kyuubi laughed, "You know yourself that she has no relation to the Namikaze other than her memories. And why would I not serve my mistress of old for a silly reason?" he reasoned with a sadistic tone in every word.

Those words acted like a trigger, Hisaki's entire body shook as if she was suddenly pierced with a sharp and sweet pain.

"B-But I…" she staggered, "**I **am your mistress! Your master! Your sovereign! You cannot-!" she screamed, grasping her non-existent heart as it grinded in torment. Her body shook and she fell in a cold sweat.

"It looks like your body is reacting to the truth," Minamo said, all-knowingly. She stepped closer to her other-self, and with each step was made with a stronger and mightier will.

"Let us remember who you were,"

"_Long ago, when the world was divided and shinobi came to be, a young girl was adopted as a ward by a powerful people and grew up as their princess. She was given the name Hikari, for she was a glorious and beautiful light. And you were she, the precious beautiful flame whom they were desperate to keep alive. _

_But what the people did not know was that you held a power so great and horrible that with a simple thought you would be able to destroy everything around you. You had control over the Nine-tailed fox. _

_The only ones who knew of this power were two chief brothers of the people who wished to harness this strength to support their clan. But what they did not expect was a rival. _

_A great man of honor and might, a leader from another race, the Senju, caught a glimpse of you and your beauty and was instantly enamored. This man, this __Senju__Hashirama__constantly kept the girl in his thoughts and soon he began to desire her._

_The eldest of the two brothers realized this and attempted to use Hikari as a lure and weapon against the Senju because the Eldest was resentful against Hashirama and his people. But as the Eldest was driven mad trying to find ways to undermine the rival clan, Hikari began to fall in love with the Younger, the only one who she revealed her clandestine smile to._

_The Leader of the Senju then proposed for a union of the two great tribes in order to better his chances with Hikari as well as strengthening his own people. _

_The Eldest was firmly against the merger but his people approved, wanting to leave their previous years of bloodshed. _

_And thus, the village of Konohagakure was created. _

_The Eldest, consumed in his raging thoughts, persuaded his brother to sacrifice his life in order to save, what he thought, was their seditious people from the greedy claws of the Senju. And thus was granted the Mangekyou due to his brother's death. _

_Hikari was witness to this murderous act and descended into solitude, shunning everything and everyone except for Hashirama. _

_The Eldest, confident in his new power, again tried to gather forces for his cause but whilst doing so, failed to realize that his people's fan was firmly held by the Senju's hand. And that he had failed. _

_Years of agony and torment tortured the Eldest nearly to the point of near insanity. And then Hikari told him that she had accepted the Senju's hand in marriage. _

_Then and there, the Eldest realized that his enemy had succeeded in taking everything away from him and now he was about to take her away, the only thing left he could possibly have in his grip._

_In a fit a fury, he attacked her, grasping her throat with the firm intent to kill, sure that he could at least take away one thing away from his enemy. _

_As Hikaru gasped for her final breath, she muttered, "You will never succeed. I will prevent it," with eyes that pierced. _

_The Eldest then released his hands from her cold and delicate neck and she fell to the ground. He later then covered the murder with suicide and as his people mourned, he left but not empty-handed for now he gained control of the Kyuubi which was granted to him through his act of killing the demon's mistress and had begun his reign._

"And then I rose from the dead and began _my_ reign as Hisaki no Jigoku," the demoness added. "Why tell me this? I know my life."

"Well obviously, you don't," the Nine-tails commented.

Hisaki glared at him. "What other nonsense are you spewing out!?"

"You just don't seem to get it, do you? She is Hikaru's reincarnation not you," the Kyuubi explained, "You were a lesser demon who simply got a hold of a powerful body."

"And did you really think that the Shinigami would allow you to rise again into this plane? The Death god is a neutral being. He just used you to return Hikaru to her former glory; something he could not have done without getting rid of your rotting remnants once and for all."

"No," the demoness muttered, "No, you LIE!" she shrieked.

"It's no use, Hisaki you-!" Minamo began. Hisaki unleashed a powerful scream, shaking the world around her.

Minamo covered her ears to block out the shrill sound and when she looked up all she could see was Hisaki's outstretched claw ready to strike.

"Naruto!" Sakura smiled as her head popped into one of the many hospital rooms. "I brought apples!"

She sat cheerfully down on the chair besides the bed and put a bag of red apples next to her.

And as Sakura took out a knife and began peeling she began to notice how blank the face on Naruto was. She laughed nervously, looking back at her peeling.

"Your hair grew quite a bit huh?" she commented, "It looks better that way. I didn't really like the way it defied gravity and stuck out like an afro."

She giggled but when she saw that he gave no response she quieted. Sakura anxiously looked at him.

Two weeks had passed since Orochimaru's attack on Konoha, two days since Naruto woken up from his coma and two hours since Sakura's last visit. Naruto's hair had grown out so that it no longer resembled a porcupine, but rather a wet, saggy porcupine. But it looked better anyway.

Sakura let her thoughts drift before finally speaking.

"Naruto?" she said fretfully, silently asking about his wellbeing.

His face healed well from his battle wounds and there was only a single bandage on his cheek. But the still stare in his eyes indicated that everything else hadn't healed. This, however, didn't surprise her. After all, he had just learned that he had attacked his own teacher and his friends and that no remains of Minamo and Orochimaru had been found and that the Third had died.

"Naruto, you shouldn't be so mad at yourself," she murmured, "None of it was your fault and-,"

"Sakura," he finally muttered.

"Yeah?" she asked, her hopes perked.

"Thanks for the apples, I was starving."

A crow cawed in the distance.

Sakura stared at him, dumbfounded, as he reached for the peeled apple.

"YAH!" she screamed, dropping her things on the ground as she quickly stood. And Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he watched the precious food fell to the floor.

"You heartless jerk! You're worse than Sasuke! I come here worried sick about you and you spew out a stupid comment like that! You even interrupted me!' she began bashing him with her fists.

"Sakura! Please!" Naruto begged, holding up his arms in defense.

"I-," she started, holding her fists in the air ready to strike him again, "I was really worried, you…Idiot!"

She lowered her hands to rub her eyes as they began to water. "I hate you!" she screamed, more tears flowing from her face. Naruto paused for a moment.

"Sakura," he said guiltily, "But I meant it, I was really hungry,"

Something snapped. "Fine then! Take the whole thing!" Sakura yelled, dumping the entire bag of apples on top of him.

She pouted as Naruto began rubbing his head from the pain.

"Gosh," he whined, "You never change, do you?" but then he smiled his usual obnoxious smile. "Thanks for coming anyway."

"Hmph, it's not that big of a deal," Sakura grumbled, her cheeks slightly pink and her eyes looking away. And he noticed.

"Ah! So you've finally fell for me, huh?"

"Idiot!" she yelled, "Don't get hopeful!"

Naruto laughed, he then picked up an apple and bit into it. "You know apples are one of my favorite foods. I'm actually growing a tree in the yard near my apartment. "

"Hai!?" Sakura sneered in disbelief, "You grow trees?"

Outside the room, Kakashi chuckled. His handy dandy Icha Icha book in one hand, the other hand in his pocket, he leaned against the wall near the door that led into his student's hospital room. Around him, people hustled around in every which way direction, working hard, unlike him, to repair the damage caused by the attack.

The reason he laughed wasn't because he read something funny in his perverted literature but rather the conversation between his students which reminded him of one he had back in the day.

"_You know apples are my favorite foods. And they're SO healthy for you too!" The Fourth smiled once to his students, holding up a bright ripe apple. "And because they're healthy they make up for the very little amount of malnutrition in ramen!" _

_Rin panned, "You know that isn't true, Sensei, ramen has tons of malnutrition" she said with absolutely no sympathy. The Fourth lost his smile. _

"_You've been getting so weird Sensei!" Obito commented loudly, "You never get this giddy about food," _

"_For once, I agree with the stupid one," Kakashi muttered. _

"_Yeah!" he paused, "Hey, I'm not stupid!" Obito yelled, lunging towards his teammate. _

"_There they go again," Minato sighed as the two pre-teen clawed at each other. He waited for bit before pulling them apart at the collars of their clothes. _

"_Do I need to remind you over and over again!" he reprimanded, "__The most important thing for a shinobi is teamwork!__ And if you guys continue this petty fighting, nothing will get done!"_

_Kakashi and Obito pouted their lips in distaste, glaring in different directions. Minato turned to his mature female student. _

"_Rin, don't marry either of them," he ordered with a stern face which turned into smiling one as she turned bright red. _

"Heh," Kakashi muttered, "To think that he was only giddy because he found out that she was pregnant."

In the Hall of Records, Jiraiya and Tsunade sat in contemplation. The elders had put the two to work, making them take control and organize the reconstruction of the decimated village. And despite their constant grumbling, they got things moving.

There was a persistent silence as the Sannin lost themselves in their thoughts.

"We did all we could," Jiraiya began, "There was nothing we could have done that would have changed anything."

"Don't you think I know that?" Tsunade muttered, her voice disheartened and mad, "It could have been worse if nothing was done. It was good that she came."

"…"

"Yeah,"

They returned to the quiet that consumed them in their sorrow, keeping their eyes downcast. The tranquil shelves and books joined them in stillness.

"You know what!? I'm not glad she came! I don't care that she's gone! I don't care and I can't take it anymore!" Tsunade burst, standing with a noise, "It's all her damn fault! She killed Hiruzen, she-!"

Tsunade pushed the files closest to her onto the floor in a fit of rage making them fall all over the floor. The fluttering sound of papers filled the soundless room and then a sound of something hard hitting the wood floor.

The two Sannin looked down to see a small scroll roll away from the scattered papers, making a faint 'shaa' as it glided along the floor. When it stopped, Jiraiya bent down and picked it up.

_**To Jiraiya and Tsunade**_ it had written on its olive-shaded jacket.

"It's for us," he stated, rather unnecessarily, as he handed it to his comrade. She took it with a graceful hand and opened it.

_Jiraiya and Tsunade,_

_By the time you read this letter, I will probably be far away from Konohagakure. So, I write this to assure you and to apologize. I apologize for pulling you into this mess, for allowing Hiruzen to die and for disappointing the both of you. But I assure that wrongs will be made right and I'm preparing to do exactly that. I take it upon myself to ensure the safety and future of this village and I request for your further cooperation. Furthermore, the file that I had shown to you previously now contains even more vital information about Konohagakure than ever before, and I leave them in your hands. Also be warned, my friends, though Orochimaru is no more, Hisaki still lives through him. _

As soon as they read the last sentence, Tsunade threw down the scroll and both of them began ravaging through the files, desperately trying to find the manila folder that contained the written contract between the Senju and Uchiha in sealing blood.

Black. Complete utter darkness. A deep abyss was all that existed, a dark corridor with no end.

"It's been a while since we've talked like this, huh?" Minamo smiled as a figure appeared in the black that surrounded her.

"As Minamo, no," the Shinigami muttered, "As Hikari, it's been far too many years,"

"It's good to know that the Spiritual world is bound to their promises or else I wouldn't be here," Minamo muttered, "I'd be dead,"

"And my goal would have never been accomplished," a voice added from behind. Minamo turned to face her namesake.

"Yondaime," she smiled as he bowed before her.

"I must thank you for this favor," Minato began, "You allowed my goals to embody within your reincarnation despite the stipulations,"

"_In exchange for my services, you must give your life, in its entirety: your past, your present and your future_. Yes, I remember, but it made it easier for Minamo to get in contact with Hisaki since it restricted her memories with yours,"

She turned back to Minato, "Namikaze, I thank _you_ for you have helped me. Now I am even closer to my ultimate goal. I have my body back, and with no remnants of that demon. I will be able to walk freely on that plane but unfortunately, her putrid remains still linger so exterminating her will be my first objective once I return. That demon can no longer be an obstacle; she has ruined my plans long enough. I will accomplish what I had promised many years ago."

"I'm glad that I was able to help and I thank you again for saving Konohagakure and for resealing the Kyuubi within my son."

"The nine-tails wasn't too happy about it but he knows it must be done in order for me to put an end to Madara. And this eye that Hisaki granted me will prove to be helpful," she spoke softly as she gently touched the burn underneath her eye.

"Your time here with us is nearly up, Hikari," The shinigami stated.

She nodded in response and faced Minato. "Namikaze, the part of your soul that is bound to the shinigami is now free to pass on; the one within the seal of the Kyuubi shall remain, as you have asked for. Do you have any last requests?" she asked.

He shook his head with a faint smile, "Only that you will care for my son unlike how I was unable to."

"I was planning to anyway," but before Minamo all but disappeared into the oblivion, she turned to the looming figure of the death god and with a jocular smirk and said, "I hoped you were entertained."

A lot more people started to come to the K.I.A. memorial to pay their respects, causing Kakashi quite a bit of trouble. He had to come earlier each day and leave earlier in order to avoid the masses or simply anyone in particular. But he still managed to come late to whatever scheduled time.

Like him, someone came to the memorial when no one else did. Every night when the moon was at its climax, this someone cloaked in darkness, drifted by the stone for an hour exactly.

And one night, two other figures had joined.

"Well, doesn't news travel fast? I wasn't expecting you two until much later. Are your sources really that good?"

The two others stayed silent. An eerie wind fingered through the folds of their robes, revealing their bloodstained ends in the moonlight.

"Go away. I changed my mind so tell your precious leader that I have no time for him or you," a long-nailed hand shooed them away. "But, if Madara-chan can secure 'that', then he'll have my favor. Until then, I'm busy…preparing for my next return,"

The figure cackled; its body and silhouette shook in the ghostly light of the moon as nefarious laughter echoed in the dark.

The next morning, Hinata jogged through the village at a fast pace, her head down, her shoulders stiff and arms behind her. All around people were working together piecing back together the remains of their homes. The day's sun was high and hot but even in the harsh heat everyone was wearing black, so that as they rebuilt their village, they would do it in the memories of the ones that had fallen. Even the young Hyuuga had taken off her white coat to show the dark colors she wore underneath as homage to the departed.

She paused at a crossing to catch her breath and look around at her surroundings. There were men carrying bulks of wood, women carrying nails and paint and even children running around doing various errands. Hinata took off again after a content sigh. The next time she stopped was when she reached her destination. Nervous, Hinata took several large breaths, before entering the dense forest on the border of the village, clutching the thin note she had brought with her.

"So you were called here too?" a familiar voice noted from behind. Hinata quickly peered over her shoulder.

"U-Uchiha-san," Hinata stuttered in surprise. Sasuke approached her with a frigid air with an outstretched hand.

"Let me see your note" he demanded. She immediately complied and handed the piece of paper to him.

'You won't be able to read it, Ke-chan. It's set to Hinata's particular chakra signature."

"Minamo-san!" Hinata exclaimed happily as she saw Minamo's figure approach.

"Yo," she smiled about to take another step towards the two genin.

But Sasuke stepped in before Hinata, wearing a fierce glare.

"How can we be sure that you're Minamo?" Sasuke glowered, "As far as we know you could be anyone right now,"

"You _still_ don't trust me, huh?" Minamo droned, her shoulders slumping.

She sighed. "I was hoping I didn't have to show you this but I'm pretty sure that this is proof."

She pushed her hair back to show bandages that covered the right upper half of her face and slowly began to remove them. Once all the bandages were off, Minamo showed them what it had covered.

Sasuke cringed and Hinata grew apprehensive as they saw the horrible state of Minamo's right eye. Three long red slashes were formed over her wide open eye, horrible claret burns and boils enveloped the areas where her cheek and eyelids should have been.

"This is the _gift_ Hisaki gave to me but thanks to the physical contact I was able fuse the two bodies together and force Hisaki out. No one else would be able to have this kind of scar, I assure you. And the only other who would be able to imitate me now possesses the body of Orochimaru and she wouldn't waste the time trying to recruit you two."

"Recruit?" Sasuke managed to ask, looking away from her eyes.

"Yes, recruit. I called you two here because I want you to come with me."

"Where?" Sasuke asked.

She let a moment pass, thinking of a good answer. "A place I can't reveal right now."

It definitely wasn't a good answer. "Why?"

"Because I need to know your loyalties first, I can't have my location revealed, especially right now. But I can tell you that coming with me won't be for nothing. I'll train you. And I can help both of you achieve your goals. But in return you have to do exactly what I tell you to do with no questions and you must swear your loyalty, so if you follow me then you sign away your life and give your complete and absolute trust to me and to your teammate. I can't stress that enough. But if you stay and return home, you stay. I will hold nothing against you," she positioned the bandages back over her eye, "So are you in or are you out?"

When they made no reply, Minamo simply smiled, "I know that this is a big decision but you have to make it now. And what I'm set out to do won't be easy. It'll be challenging and strenuous but it's an opportunity that I know you both need."

Silence.

"Let's go," Sasuke stepped forward with utter confidence and determination, more than what he ever had garnered before.

This made her smile and began to walk into the depths of the woods, Sasuke close behind her. But Hinata, she stood fast into the ground, her feet fidgeting in her shoes. So tempted to run back home but so sure to follow after the furthering figures, she stood with her hands clasped to her thumping chest and her head down in uncertainty with her lips trembling. She knew the choice that she would make would change her life. She knew. But she didn't know what to do. She knew that if she left she would be able to truly prove herself but she would have to leave everything familiar and comfortable. Lost in her thoughts, she stood there, weighing the pros and cons.

"Oi, are you coming or not?" Sasuke called out to her over his shoulder. Bewildered, Hinata unconsciously ran after them with a "Hai!," not sure what to make of her decision. But as she grew further and further away from her home and her family, the rules and the expectations, her steps grew stronger and soon caught up with her new teammates, her mind ready.

And in that moment, despite her decision, she hoped that she would be able to return to her home….Once again.

Sigh, everything's over! …Well kind of.

Heh, Gaara didn't say a word throughout the entire thing :) probably because he's out of the loop. Oh well, that's the last chapter!

Oh, sorry about not updating in like…um… a year? I feel really guilty that you guys needed to wait for such a crappy final chapter. Basically this chapter was to answer some of the questions that probably have been floating around in your head. If it still doesn't, please contact me and I'll put a better chapter up.

Oh and the whole flashback thing in italics was the story of Uchiha Madara (such a weird name) so if you don't know it you'd probably won't understand what I wrote...which isn't a really smart thing to do as a writer. (-.-) Yeah, so the "Eldest" is Madara and "Younger" is what's his name.

If you noticed, I put in several SAT vocabulary words. LOL. This was to help me for the upcoming test in January and to improve your vocabulary. Aren't I the best?

Here are their definitions:

Dexterous: skillful, deft

Clandestine: secretive

Seditious: disloyal

Jocular: joking

Decimate: destroy

Nefarious: very evil

Claret: dark red

Strenuous: difficult, physically demanding

If you had to look these up, good for you! You just learned 8 more words. If you didn't, good for you! You already know 8 SAT worthy words!

Love you all!

Tafih

P.S. Want a sequel?


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